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We will gain only those things that we send ahead there. Those things alone are ours, which are the good deeds of the soul, almsgiving and love for mankind; for it is not possible to depart taking money with us; rather let us send it ahead, so as to prepare for us a tent in the eternal mansions.

Without almsgiving, the soul is fruitless. All things are unclean without it, all things unprofitable. This is that by which we can be made equal to God, to show mercy and to pity. When therefore we do not have this, we have been deprived of everything. He did not say, If you believe, you are like your Father. He did not say, If you remain virgins; but what? Be merciful, as your Father who is in heaven. For, he says, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.

Those things which we wish to receive from God, we ought to be the first to share with our neighbors. But if we deprive our neighbors of these things, how do we wish to receive them? Blessed, he says, are the merciful, (768) for they shall obtain mercy; but judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy.

Stretch out your hands, not to heaven, but to the hands of the poor. If you stretch out your hand to the hands of the poor, you have touched the very summit of heaven; for he who is seated there receives the alms. But if you raise them up fruitless, you have gained nothing. For it is not in the stretching out of hands, nor in the multitude of words, but in deeds that one can be heard. For hear the Prophet saying: When you stretch out your hands, I will turn my eyes away from you; and if you multiply your prayer, I will not listen to you. But rather judge for the orphan and the lowly, and do justice to the widow, and learn to do good.

If there were no poor, the great part of our sins would not be cut away. The poor are physicians of our wounds; they offer us their hands as medicines. A physician stretching out his hands and applying remedies does not provide healing in the same way as a poor man, stretching out his hand and receiving what is from us, is a cleanser of our evils. You gave the silver, and sins went out with it. For such are the priests, they will eat the sins of my people.

A blind man who receives mercy knows how to lead by the hand into the kingdom of heaven; and though stumbling against walls, and slipping into pits, this man becomes a preparer of the way for the ascent into heaven.

Why do you labor in vain, O rich man, hiding what belongs to the poor in your treasuries? why, when asked by them, are you vexed, as if spending from your own resources? They want their patrimony, not what is yours; the things entrusted to you for them, not born with you. What you have received, give, and gain the use of it. It is enough for you that you were appointed to give, not to receive.

Nothing so gladdens God as almsgiving. For this reason the priests in ancient times were anointed with oil, and the kings and the prophets. For they had the oil as a symbol of the love for mankind of God. Because God has mercy on men and shows love for them, for this reason they were anointed with oil. For he also made the priesthood out of mercy; and the kings were anointed with oil. For he will have mercy, it says, on all, because he can do all things. For this is proper to rule, to show mercy. Consider that through mercy the world

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Ἐκεῖνα μόνα κερδήσομεν, ὅσα ἄν ἐκεῖ προπέμψωμεν. Ἐκεῖνα μίνα ἐστίν ἡμέτερα, ὅσα τῆς ψυχής ἐστι κατορθώματα, ἐλεημοσύνη καί φιλανθρωπία· οὐ γάρ δυνατόν χρήματα λαβόντα ἀπελθεῖν· μᾶλλον δέ καί προπέμψωμεν αὐτά, ὥστε ἑτοιμάσαι ἡμῖν σκηνήν ἐν ταἰς αἰωνίαις μοναῖς.

Ἐλεημοσύνης χωρίς, ἄκαρπος ἡ ψυχή. Πάντα ἀκάθαρτα ταύτης χωρίς, πάντα ἀνόνητα. Τοῦτό ἐστιν ᾧ ἐξισοῦσθαι δυνάμεθα τῷ Θεῷ, τό ἐλεεῖν καί οἰκτείρειν. Ὅταν οὖν τοῦτο μή ἔχωμεν, τοῦ παντός ἀπεστερήμεθα. Οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἐάν πιστεύσητε ὅμοιοί ἐστε τῷ Πατρί ὑμῶν. Οὐκ εἶπεν, Ἐάν παρθενεύσητε· ἀλλά τί; Γίνεσθε οἰκτίρμονες, ὡς ὁ Πατήρ ὑμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Ἔλεον γάρ, φησί, θέλω, καί οὐ θυσίαν.

Ὧν βουλόμεθα τυχεῖν παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ, τούτων πρότεροι μεταδιδόναι, τοῖς πλησίον ὀφείλομεν. Ἄν δέ τούς πλησίον τούτων ἀποστερῶμεν, πῶς τούτων τυχεῖν βουλόμεθα. Μακάριοι, φησίν, οἱ ἐλεήμονες, (768) ὅτι αὐτοί ἐλεηθήσονται· ἀνίλεως δέ κρίσις τῷ μή ποιήσαντι ἔλεος.

Ἔκτεινόν σου τάς χεῖρας, μή εἰς τόν οὐρανόν, ἀλλ᾿ εἰς τάς τῶν πενήτων χεῖρας. Ἐάν εἰς τάς τῶν πενήτων ἐκτείνῃς τήν χεῖρα, αὐτῆς ἥψω τῆς κορυφῆς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ· ὁ γάρ ἐκεῖ καθήμενος λαμβάνει τήν ἐλεημοσύνην. Ἄν δέ ἀκάρπους ἀνατείνῃς, οὐδέν ὤνησας. Οὐ γάρ ἐν τῇ ἐκτάσει τῶν χειρῶν, οὐδέ ἐν τῷ πλήθει τῶν ῥημάτων, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις ἐπακούεσθαι ἔστιν. Ἄκουε γάρ τοῦ Προφήτου λέγοντος· Ὅταν τάς χεῖρας ὑμων ἐκτείνητε, ἀποστρέψω τούς ὀφθαλμούς μου ἀφ᾿ ὑμῶν· καί ἐάν πληθύνητε τήν δέησιν, οὐκ εἰσακούσομαι ὑμῶν. Κρίνατε δέ μᾶλλον ὀρφανῷ καί ταπεινῷ, καί δικαιώσατε χήραν, καί μάθετε καλόν ποιεῖν.

Εἰ μή πένητες ἦσαν,οὐκ ἄν τό πολύ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ὑποτέμνετο. Ἰατροί τῶν τραυμάτων εἰσί τῶν ἡμετέρων οἱ πένητες· φάρμακα ἡμῖν παρέχουσι τάς αὐτῶν χεῖρας. Οὐχ οὕτως ἰατρός χεῖρας ἐκτείνων καί φάρμακα ἐπιτιθείς, τήν ἰατρείαν παρέχει, ὡς πένης χεῖρα ἐκτείνων καί τά παρ᾿ ἡμῶν λαμβάνων, ἐκμαγεῖον τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐστί κακῶν. Ἔδωκας τό ἀργύριον, συνεξῆλθε καί ἁμαρτήματα. Τοιοῦτοι γάρ οἱ ἱερεῖς, ἁμαρτίας λαοῦ μου φάγονται.

Τυφλός οἶδεν ἐλεούμενος εἰς οὐρανῶν βασιλείαν χειραγωγεῖν· καί τοίχοις προσκρούων, καί βόθροις ἐνολισθαίνων, οὗτος ὁδοποιός γίνεται τῆς εἰς οὐρανόν ἀναβάσεως.

Τί ματαιοπονεῖς, ὦ πλούσιε, τά τῶν πενήτων ἐν τοῖς σοῖς θησαυροῖς ἀποκρύπτων; τί αἰτούμενος παρ᾿ αὐτῶν ἀγανακτεῖς, ὡς οἴκοθεν ἀναλίσκων; Τά πατρῷα θέλουσιν, οὐ τά σά· τά ἐγχειρισθέντα σοι δι᾿ αὐτούς, οὐ μετά σοῦ γεννηθέντα. Ἅ ἔλαβες, δός, καί τήν χρῆσιν κέρδανον. Ἀρκεῖ σοι ὅτι διδόναι, οὐ λαμβάνειν ἐτάχθης.

Οὐδέν οὕτως εὐφραίνει τόν Θεόν, ὡς ἐλεημοσύνη. ∆ιό οἱ ἱερεῖς κατά τό παλαιόν, ἔλαιον ἐχρίοντο, καί οἱ βασιλεῖς καί οἱ προφῆται. Τῆς γάρ τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας εἶχον σύμβολον τό ἔλαιον. Ἐπειδή ὁ Θεός ἐλεεῖ τούς ἀνθρώπους καί φιλανθρωπεύεται, διά τοῦτο ἐλαίῳ ἐχρίοντο. Καί γάρ τήν ἱερωσύνην ἀπό ἐλέους ἐποίησεν· καί οἱ βασιλεῖς ἐλαίῳ ἐχρίοντο. Ἐλεήσει γάρ, φησί, πάντας, ὅτι πάντα δύναται. Τοῦτο γάρ ἀρχῆς ἴδιον, τό ἐλεεῖν. Ἐννόησον ὅτι δι᾿ ἔλεον ὁ κόσμος