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Do you boast? What do you hope for from the glory and wealth of the world? Let us go out to the tombs, I beseech you; let us see the mysteries, let us see nature scattered, bones devoured, bodies decayed; look, even if you are wise, even if you are prudent, tell me, there who is the king and who the commoner, who the noble and who the slave, who the wise and who the unlearned. Where is the beauty of youth there, where the joyful countenance, where the comely eyes, where the gleaming face? Is not everything dust? Is not everything ashes? Is not everything cinders? Is not everything darkness? Is not everything filth and stench? Considering these things, and remembering the last day, as we have time, let us do what is good, so that we may be delivered from the future endless Gehenna, and may be deemed worthy of the kingdom of heaven, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

DISCOURSE 48. A florilegium in the form of a discourse, collected from Chrysostom by Theodore; what a Christian must do to inherit eternal life.

To love God with all his soul and strength, and to keep

his commandments, and to love his neighbor as himself, according to the voice of the Lord who said: If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love; and again, By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. He who humbles his soul before God, and is never exalted over his neighbor; For a broken and humbled heart God will not despise; he who is grieved at his neighbor’s sin, and mourns his own sins, and rejoices in his neighbor’s gladness, and is not consumed with envy at his happiness; he who in meekness receives and instructs those who oppose, and always longs and thirsts to work the righteousness of God; for this one will also keep the purity of his own soul; he who is moved with mercy toward those who need mercy, and for the sake of peace according to God gives his whole self, and strives to be called a son of God also through this work, and furthermore being insulted and accused and persecuted, and dying for the sake of the righteousness of God and the confession of Christ, because this is eternal life; he who turns away from all heretical blasphemy, and rightly confesses the confession of the Holy Trinity; he who meditates on truth in his heart, and does not beguile his tongue with falsehood, and does no evil to his neighbor, according to what is written; he who does not accuse, does not revile, nor does anything else of the things forbidden, but diligently keeps all the commandments of Christ and does them; stretching out his hands for almsgiving, being deprived and not resisting, giving to him who has no tunic, being reviled and blessing, being compelled and adding more, carrying no shameful or blasphemous word in his mouth, or uttering an oath, but knowing one standard, the truth, and always meditating on it, night and day, and saying no more than yes and no to anyone in his answers, according to the 63.900 Lord's command; moving the tongue to hymnody, the knees and the hands with the mind to prayer, shedding a tear for compunction before God; being concerned at all times about his death, and the future judgment, and the accounting for his works, always considering what he has sinned, offering praises to God on behalf of them; but diligently working good deeds, and not bringing them up, or showing them to anyone, or boasting in them like the Pharisee, but leaving the knowledge of them to the God who knows, who will repay each according to his works; fleeing drunkenness, fleeing perjury, gluttony, untimely speech, envy, strife, malice,

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μεγαλαυχεῖς; τί ἐλπίζεις ἐκ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου δόξης καὶ πλούτου; Ἐξέλθωμεν ἐπὶ τοὺς τάφους, παρακαλῶ· ἴδωμεν τὰ μυστήρια, ἴδωμεν τὴν φύσιν διεσπαρμένην, ὀστᾶ βεβρωμένα, σώματα σεσηπότα· ἐπίσκεψαι, κἂν σοφὸς εἶ, κἂν φρόνιμος, εἰπέ μοι, ἐκεῖ τίς ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ τίς ὁ ἰδιώτης, τίς ὁ εὐγενὴς καὶ τίς ὁ δοῦλος, τίς ὁ σοφὸς καὶ τίς ὁ ἰδιώτης. Ποῦ τὸ κάλλος ἐκεῖ τῆς νεότητος, ποῦ ἡ περιχαρὴς ὄψις, ποῦ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ οἱ εὐειδεῖς, ποῦ τὸ ἀποστίλβον πρόσωπον; οὐ πάντα κόνις; οὐ πάντα τέφρα; οὐ πάντα σποδός; οὐ πάντα σκότος; οὐ πάντα βρῶμος καὶ δυσωδία; Ταῦτα ἐννοοῦντες, καὶ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἡμέρας ἐνθυμηθέντες, ὡς καιρὸν ἔχομεν, ἐργασώμεθα τὸ ἀγαθὸν, ἵνα τῆς μελλούσης ἀτελευτήτου γεέννης ἀπαλλαγῶμεν, καὶ τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας ἀξιωθῶμεν, χάριτι, καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΜΗʹ. Ἀπάνθισμα ἐν εἴδει λόγου ἐκ Χρυσοστόμου συλλεγὲν παρὰ Θεοδώρου· τί πράττων ὁ Χριστιανὸς κληρονομήσει ζωὴν αἰώνιον.

Ἀγαπᾷν τὸν Θεὸν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως, καὶ φυλάσσειν

τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν πλησίον ἀγαπᾷν, ὡς ἑαυτὸν, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου φωνὴν εἰπόντος· Ἐὰν τὰς ἐντολὰς τὰς ἐμὰς τηρήσητε, μενεῖτε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ μου· καὶ πάλιν, Ἐν τούτῳ γνώσονται πάντες, ὅτι ἐμοὶ μαθηταί ἐστε, ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους. Ὁ ταπεινῶν τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐναντίον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ μηδέποτε κατεπαιρόμενος τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ· Καρδίαν γὰρ συντετριμμένην καὶ τεταπεινωμένην ὁ Θεὸς οὐκ ἐξουδενώσει· ὁ συνθλιβόμενος ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ πλησίον ἁμαρτίᾳ, καὶ πενθῶν τὰς ἰδίας ἁμαρτίας, καὶ χαίρων ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ πλησίον εὐφροσύνῃ, καὶ μὴ φθόνῳ τηκόμενος ἐπὶ τῇ τούτου εὐδαιμονίᾳ· ὁ ἐν πραότητι δεχόμενος καὶ παιδεύων τοὺς ἀντιδιατιθεμένους, καὶ ἐπιποθῶν ἀεὶ καὶ διψῶν τὴν δικαιοσύνην τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐργάζεσθαι· οὗτος γὰρ τηρήσει καὶ τὸ καθαρὸν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς· ὁ ἐπικαμπτόμενος ἐλέῳ εἰς τοὺς χρῄζοντας τὸν ἔλεον, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν εἰρήνης ὅλον διδοὺς ἑαυτὸν, καὶ ἀγωνιζόμενος κληθῆναι υἱὸς Θεοῦ καὶ διὰ ταύτην τὴν ἐργασίαν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ ὑβριζόμενος καὶ κατηγορούμενος καὶ διωκόμενος, καὶ ἀποθνήσκων ἕνεκεν τῆς δικαιοσύνης τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τῆς ὁμολογίας τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν, ὅτι τοῦτο ἔστιν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή· ὁ πᾶσαν ἐκτρεπόμενος αἱρετικὴν βλασφημίαν, καὶ ὀρθῶς ὁμολογῶν τὴν τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος ὁμολογίαν· ὁ ἀλήθειαν μελετῶν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ, καὶ μὴ δολῶν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γλῶτταν ἐν ψεύδει, καὶ μὴ ποιῶν κακὸν τῷ πλησίον, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον· ὁ μὴ κατηγορῶν, μὴ λοιδορῶν, μηδὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἀπηγορευμένων ἐργαζόμενος, ἀλλὰ τηρῶν ἐπιμελῶς πάσας τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ποιῶν αὐτάς· ἐκτείνων τὰς χεῖρας εἰς ἐλεημοσύνην, ἀποστερούμενος, καὶ μὴ ἀντιτείνων, μεταδιδοὺς τῷ μὴ ἔχοντι χιτῶνα, λοιδορούμενος καὶ εὐλογῶν, ἀγγαρευόμενος καὶ προστιθεὶς, μηδὲν αἰσχρὸν ἢ βλάσφημον ἐν τῷ στόματι περιφέρων ῥῆμα, ἢ ὅρκον προϊέμενος, ἀλλὰ ἕνα ὅρον γινώσκων, τὴν ἀλήθειαν, καὶ μελετῶν πάντοτε ταύτην, νύκτα καὶ ἡμέραν, καὶ πλείω τοῦ ναὶ, καὶ τοῦ οὒ, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ 63.900 Κυρίου διάταξιν μὴ λέγων τινὶ ἐν ταῖς ἀπολογίαις αὐτοῦ· κινῶν τε τὴν γλῶσσαν πρὸς ὑμνῳδίαν, τὰ γόνατα καὶ τὰς χεῖρας σὺν τῷ νοῒ πρὸς δέησιν, δάκρυον πρὸς κατάνυξιν ἐκχέων ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ· μεριμνῶν διὰ παντὸς τὸν θάνατον αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν μέλλουσαν κρίσιν, καὶ τὴν ἀπολογίαν τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ, πάντοτε ἀναλογιζόμενος ἃ ἥμαρτεν, ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν προσφέρων τὰς αἰνέσεις τῷ Θεῷ· τὰς δὲ ἀγαθὰς πράξεις ἐπιμελῶς ἐργαζόμενος, καὶ μὴ ἐπιφέρων αὐτὰς, ἢ ἐπιδεικνύμενός τισιν, ἢ μεγαλαυχούμενος ἐν αὐταῖς ὥσπερ ὁ Φαρισαῖος, ἀλλὰ τῷ εἰδότι Θεῷ καταλιμπάνων τὴν γνῶσιν αὐτῶν, ὃς ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ· φεύγων μέθην, φεύγων ἐπιορκίαν, γαστριμαργίαν, ἀκαιρολογίαν, φθόνον, ἔριν, κακίαν,