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to live in a way pleasing to God, to conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of saints, that you are called a chosen generation, an honored seed, of whom? Of that Thekla the protomartyr, of Febronia, of Eupraxias, of the holy and blessed list along with them. For if you have left the world, if you have renounced parents, if you have chosen virginity, if you have been betrothed to Christ, if you have loved the kingdom of heaven, why do you not have all your zeal and care for this, rejoicing that you were deemed worthy of such a God-given gift, of an unsurpassed dignity, I do not speak according to human things (for these are a shadow and dreams and are destroyed together with the present age), but also according to spiritual things, since virginity and poverty are the choicest of the greatest gifts. And if those in the world are insatiable to partake of vain and perishing things, why and how much ought we to be insatiable in the inexhaustible and ineffable good things? Yes, I beseech you, yes, I entreat you, acquire the things of heaven, become daughters of God, queens honored in heaven, brides of Christ, co-heirs with Christ, a light in the world, a holy utterance, a praiseworthy commonwealth, both you, the lady abbess and ruler in Christ, and you, the fair-childrened daughters of the Jerusalem above in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory for ever. Amen. 473 {1A Catechesis to His Own Disciples}1 I, the humble one, undertake the work in the catecheses not from a habit of ostentation nor from a conceit of a strange mind, but from fear and trembling, from a sorrowful heart and love, brothers and fathers, if indeed it is a sign of one who loves to instruct diligently. Reprove, it says, rebuke in season and out of season; and also, exhort, admonish, and whatever else the law of God has and commands. What then does my discourse wish to indicate? About disorder; that, when invited by the pious to psalm-singing, you do not gather and keep vigil in a fitting manner, but in disputes and struggles for the first seats. "4You went ahead,"5 he says, "4and did not wait for me; you ate your own supper and did not invite me; I should lead the chant, but not you,"5 he says. And these things in the church, and these things while those who invited you are listening, on account of which there is the unseen wrath of God, but the confessed grief and harm of those who invited you; for do you not have a place, if something grievous should happen, to accuse each other in private and to settle what has occurred through an apology and due humility? But a brother fights with a brother, is angry, is insolent, behaves unseemly in the presence of all. O the disorder! O the unmonastic spectacle! O the contempt for the divine laws. Then the blame is on the superior; "4Such a teacher,"5 he says, "4and such disciples."5 Have you not made me hated even by those in the city? Is not the good name, which was called upon your holy brotherhood, being turned to the contrary? You fight and you war, you eat and you drink not reverently, not quietly, but indecently, but unmonk-like. Therefore whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, says the apostle, do all to the glory of God. But you do not do so, and you shame the holy habit, you scandalize the devout, and rather also the irreverent. Would that it were heard about each one of you, "4Oh, what a reverent face so-and-so bears, woe, how great is the silence of so-and-so, well done for the reserve of that one, the orderliness of this one, the solemn psalmody of another, the affability of a different one."5 These things both adorn those who possess them and benefit those who observe them, and they both gladden God and give me the sinner dignity. But now, on account of my sins, it is the opposite; and I do not attack all, since many by the grace of God are such as the word seeks, but those who are held fast by inattentiveness. I beseech you therefore, or rather I command you, change your wicked customs and manners, your ways and your words, your postures and your mouths; since what need is there to show wickedness instead of good to your inviters, and to grieve God and shame me, the wretched one? I will be heard, my brothers, since I, the unworthy one, will cry out to the Lord,

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θεαρέστως ζῆν, ἁγιοπρεπῶς πολιτεύεσθαι, γένος ὑμᾶς χρηματίζειν ἐκλεκτόν, σπέρμα ἔντιμον, τίνος; Θέκλης ἐκείνης τῆς πρωτομάρτυρος, Φεβρωνίας, Εὐπραξίας, τοῦ κατ' αὐτὰς ἱεροῦ καὶ μακαρίου καταλόγου. εἰ γὰρ κόσμον κατελίπατε, εἰ γονεῖς ἠρνήσασθε, εἰ παρθενίαν εἵλασθε, εἰ Χριστῷ ἐνυμφεύθητε, εἰ βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν ἠγαπήσατε, τί μὴ πᾶσαν ὑμῶν τὴν σπουδὴν καὶ μέριμναν πρὸς τοῦτο ἔχοιτε, χαίρουσαι ὅτι τοιούτου θεοσδότου δώρου ἠξιώθητε, ἀξιώματος ἀνυπερβλήτου, οὐ λέγω κατὰ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα (σκιὰ γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ ὀνείρατα καὶ τῷ παρόντι αἰῶνι συγκαταλυόμενα), ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὰ πνευματικά, εἴπερ παρθενία καὶ ἀκτημοσύνη τῶν μεγίστων δωρεῶν τὸ ἐξαίρετον. καὶ εἰ ἀπληστεύονται οἱ κατὰ κόσμον μετασχεῖν τῶν ματαίων καὶ ἀπολλυμένων, τί καὶ πόσον ἡμεῖς ὀφείλομεν ἀκορέστως ἔχειν ἐν τοῖς ἀμηρύτοις καὶ ἀνεκλαλήτοις ἀγαθοῖς; Ναί, παρακαλῶ, ναί, ἀντιβολῶ, κατακτήσασθε τὰ οὐράνια, γένοισθε θεοῦ θυγατέρες, βασιλίδες οὐρανοτίμητοι, Χριστοῦ νύμφαι, Χριστοῦ συγκληρονόμοι, φῶς ἐν κόσμῳ, λάλημα ἅγιον, πολίτευμα ἀξιέπαινον, σύ τε ἡ κυρία καθηγουμένη καὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἄρχουσα ὑμεῖς τε αἱ καλλίτεκνοι θυγατέρες τῆς ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. ἀμήν. 473 {1Κατήχησις πρὸς τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητάσ}1 Ἔργον ἐγὼ ὁ ταπεινὸς ἐργάζομαι ἐν ταῖς κατηχήσεσιν οὐκ ἐξ ἐπιτηδεύματος φανητιασμοῦ οὐδὲ ἀπὸ συνεπάρσεως διανοίας ἀλλοκότου, ἀλλ' ἐκ φόβου καὶ τρόμου, ἐξ ἐπιπόνου καρδίας καὶ ἀγάπης, ἀδελφοὶ καὶ πατέρες, εἴπερ ἀγαπῶντος δεῖγμα τὸ ἐπιμελῶς παιδεύειν. ἔλεγξον, φησίν, ἐπιτίμησον εὐκαίρως, ἀκαίρως· ἐπεὶ καί, παρακάλεσον, νουθέτησον, ὅσα ἄλλα ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ νόμος ἔχει καὶ διακελεύεται. Τί δὴ οὖν βούλεταί μοι ὁ λόγος ὑποδηλῶσαι; περὶ ἀταξίας· ὅτι, προσκαλούμενοι ὑπὸ εὐσεβῶν εἰς ψαλμῳδίας, οὐ κατὰ τὸ πρεπῶδες συναθροίζεσθε καὶ παννυχίζετε, ἀλλ' ἐν λογομαχίαις καὶ πρωτοκλισίαις. "4προύλαβες σύ"5, φησίν, "4κἀμὲ οὐκ ἀνέμεινας· τὸ ἴδιον δεῖπνον ἔφαγες κἀμὲ οὐ συνεκάλεσας· ἐγὼ κανοναρχήσαιμι, ἀλλ' οὐ σύ"5, φησίν. καὶ ταῦτα ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ, καὶ ταῦτα ἀκουόντων τῶν κεκληκότων, ἐφ' οἷς ὀργὴ μὲν θεοῦ ἀοράτως, λύπη δὲ καὶ βλάβη ὁμολογουμένη τῶν κεκληκότων· μὴ γὰρ χώραν οὐκ ἔχετε, εἰ καί τι γίνοιτο θλιπτικόν, εἰς τὸ ἰδίᾳ ἐγκαλεῖν ἀλλήλοις καὶ τὰ συμπίπτοντα καταλλάσειν δι' ἀπολογίας καὶ τῆς δεούσης ταπεινώσεως; ἀλλὰ ἀδελφὸς μετὰ ἀδελφοῦ μάχεται, ὀργίζεται, ὑβρίζει, ἀσχημονεῖ ἐπὶ προσώπου πάντων. Ὢ τῆς ἀταξίας· ὢ τῆς ἀμονάχου θεωρίας· ὢ τῆς καταφρονήσεως τῶν θείων νόμων. εἶτα ἡ αἰτία ἐπὶ τὸν καθηγούμενον· "4τοιούτου"5, φησί, "4διδασκάλου τηλικοῦτοι καὶ μαθηταί"5. ἆρ' οὐχὶ μισητόν με πεποιήκατε καὶ τοῖς ἐν ἄστει; ἆρ' οὐχὶ τὸ καλὸν ὄνομα, τὸ ἐπικληθὲν ἐπὶ τῇ ὁσίᾳ ἀδελφότητι ὑμῶν, εἰς τοὐναντίον περιτρέπεται; μάχεσθε καὶ πολεμεῖτε, τρώγετε καὶ πίνετε οὐκ εὐλαβῶς, οὐχ ἡσύχως, ἀλλὰ ἀσέμνως, ἀλλὰ ἀμονάχως. εἴτε οὖν ἐσθίετε εἴτε πίνετε εἴτε τι ποιεῖτε, φησὶν ὁ ἀπόστολος, πάντα εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ ποιεῖτε. ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, καὶ καταισχύνετε τὸ ἅγιον σχῆμα, σκανδαλίζετε τοὺς εὐλαβεῖς, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἀνευλαβεῖς. εἴθε ἠκούετο περὶ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου ὑμῶν, "4οἴ, ποῖον εὐλαβὲς πρόσωπον φέρει ὁ δεῖνα, οὐά, ἡλίκον τὸ σιωπηλὸν τοῦ ὁ δεῖνα, εὖγε τὸ ἀπαρρησίαστον ἐκείνου, τοῦδε τὸ τακτικόν, ἄλλου τὸ σεμνόψαλτον, ἑτέρου τὸ εὐαπάντητον"5. ταῦτα καὶ τοὺς ἔχοντας καλλύνει καὶ τοὺς θεωροῦντας ὀνίνησιν, τόν τε θεὸν εὐφραίνει κἀμὲ τὸν ἁμαρτωλὸν σεμνύνει. νῦν δὲ κατὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας μου ἀντίστροφα· καὶ οὐ πάντων καθάπτομαι, ἐπεὶ πολλοὶ χάριτι θεοῦ οἵους ζητεῖ ὁ λόγος, ἀλλ' ἐκείνων τῶν ἐνισχημένων τῇ ἀπροσεξίᾳ. Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐντέλλομαι, ἀλλάξατε τὰ πονηρὰ ἔθη καὶ ἤθη, τοὺς τρόπους καὶ τοὺς λόγους, τὰ σχήματα καὶ τὰ στάματα· ἐπεὶ τίς χρεία ἀντὶ ἀγαθοῦ πονηρίαν ὑποδεικνύειν τοῖς κλήτορσι, θεόν τε λυπεῖν κἀμὲ τὸν ἐλεεινὸν καταισχύνειν; ἀκουσθήσομαι, ἀδελφοί μου, ἐπεὶ βοήσω πρὸς Κύριον ὁ ἀνάξιος,