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From which it is clear that if you had received this authority even in greater matters, you would have committed countless murders, and shut out all light and life. So that this might not happen, He of necessity cut short the greed in those things. But if you are pained hearing these things, much more am I, seeing them happen. Until when are you rich, and he poor? Until evening, and no further. For so short is life, and everything else stands at the doors, so that the whole is considered a brief hour. What need have you of storehouses belching forth, and a multitude of servants and stewards? Why do you not have countless heralds of almsgiving? For the storehouse utters no voice, but will even attract many robbers; but the storehouses of the poor will ascend to God Himself, and will make the present life pleasant, and will loose all sins, and will bring glory with God, and honor with men. Why then do you envy yourself so many good things? For you will not do good to them, but to yourself more greatly, by benefiting them. For them you will correct present things, but for yourself you will store up beforehand future glory and confidence; which may we all attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion for ever. Amen.

59.419 HOMILY 78. But these things I did not say to you from the beginning, because I was with you.

But now I am going to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.

1. Great is the tyranny of despondency, and we need much courage, so that

we may stand nobly against this passion, and reaping what is useful from it, leave aside the excess; for it also has something useful. For when we or others sin, then only is it good to grieve; but when we fall into human circumstances, the use of despondency is then useless. Since, then, this also 59.420 wrestled down the disciples, who were not yet perfect, see how He corrects them through rebuke. For those who before this asked Him countless things (for Peter said, Where are you going? and Thomas, We do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way? and Philip, Show us your Father), these now, having heard that, They will put you out of the synagogues, and that, They will hate you, and, that, He who kills you will think he is offering service to God, fell so low as to be seized with speechlessness from then on, and to say nothing to Him. Therefore, reproaching them, He said: These things I did not 59.421 say to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. For the excess of this is terrible, terrible, and productive of death. For this reason Paul said: Lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow. But these things I did not say to you from the beginning, He says. But for what reason did He not say it from the beginning? So that no one might say that He spoke conjecturing from what often happened. And why indeed does He undertake a matter having such difficulty? I knew them, He says, even from the beginning, and I did not say them not because of not knowing, but, Because I was with you. And this again in a human way; as if He were saying, Because you were in safety, and it was possible to ask when you wished, and the whole war was fanned against Me, and it was superfluous to say these things from the beginning. Did He not then say this? Did He not, having called the twelve, say: You will be brought before governors and kings, and they will scourge you in the synagogues? How then does He say, I did not say it from the beginning? Because He foretold scourgings and being led away, but not that their death would be thought so desirable, that the deed would even be considered a service. For this more than anything else was sufficient to strike them with terror, if indeed they were to be judged as impious men and corrupters. And in addition to these things

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Ὅθεν δῆλον ὅτι εἰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς μείζοσι ταύτην ἔλαβες τὴν ἐξουσίαν, μυρίους ἂν εἰργάσω φόνους, καὶ τὸ φῶς καὶ τὴν ζωὴν ἅπασαν ἀπέκλεισας. Ὅπερ ἵνα μὴ γένηται, ἀνάγκῃ τὴν ἐν ἐκείνοις ἀπληστίαν διέκοψεν. Εἰ δὲ ἀλγεῖτε ταῦτα ἀκούοντες, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐγὼ ταῦτα γινόμενα ὁρῶν. Μέχρι πότε σὺ πλούσιος, κἀκεῖνος πένης; Μέχρι τῆς ἑσπέρας, περαιτέρω δὲ οὐκ ἔτι. Οὕτω γὰρ βραχὺς ὁ βίος, καὶ πάντα ἐπὶ θύραις ἕστηκε λοιπὸν, ὡς ὥραν βραχεῖαν τὸ πᾶν εἶναι νομίζεσθαι. Τί σοι δεῖ ταμιείων ἐρευγομένων, καὶ πλήθους οἰκετῶν καὶ οἰκονόμων; διατί μὴ μυρίους ἔχεις κήρυκας, τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης; Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ταμιεῖον οὐδεμίαν ἀφίησιν φωνὴν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλοὺς ἐπισπάσεται λῃστάς· τὰ δὲ τῶν πενήτων ταμιεῖα πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀναβήσεται τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ἡδὺν τὸν παρόντα ἐργάσεται βίον, καὶ πάντα λύσει τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, καὶ δόξαν παρὰ Θεῷ, καὶ τιμὴν παρὰ ἀνθρώποις οἴσει. Τί τοίνυν φθονεῖς σεαυτῷ τοσούτων ἀγαθῶν; Οὐ γὰρ ἐκείνους, ἀλλὰ σαυτὸν εὐποιήσεις μειζόνως, ἐκείνους εὐεργετῶν. Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ τὰ παρόντα ἐπανορθώσεις, σαυτῷ δὲ τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν καὶ παῤῥησίαν προαποθήσῃ· ἧς γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.

59.419 ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΟΗʹ. Ταῦτα δὲ ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὐκ εἶπον ὑμῖν, ὅτι μεθ' ὑμῶν ἤμην.

Νῦν δὲ ὑπάγω πρὸς τὸν πέμψαντά με, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐρωτᾷ με, Ποῦ ὑπάγεις; Ἀλλ' ὅτι ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν, ἡ λύπη πεπλήρωκεν ὑμῶν τὴν καρδίαν.

αʹ. Μεγάλη τῆς ἀθυμίας ἡ τυραννὶς, καὶ πολλῆς ἡμῖν τῆς ἀνδρείας δεῖ, ὥστε

στῆναι πρὸς τουτὶ τὸ πάθος γενναίως, καὶ τὸ χρήσιμον ἀπ' αὐτοῦ καρπουμένους, τὸ περισσὸν ἐᾷν· ἔχει γάρ τι καὶ χρήσιμον. Ὅταν μὲν γὰρ ἁμαρτάνωμεν ἡμεῖς ἢ ἕτεροι, τότε μόνον λυπεῖσθαι καλόν· ὅταν δὲ ἀνθρωπίναις περιστάσεσιν ἐμπέσωμεν, ἄχρηστος λοιπὸν τῆς ἀθυμίας ἡ χρῆσις. Ἐπεὶ οὖν καὶ 59.420 τοὺς μαθητὰς οὐδέπω τελείους ὄντας αὕτη κατεπάλαισεν, ὅρα πῶς αὐτοὺς διορθοῦται διὰ τῆς ἐπιπλήξεως. Οἱ γὰρ μυρία πρὸ τούτου αὐτὸν ἐρωτῶντες (καὶ γὰρ ὁ Πέτρος ἔλεγε, Ποῦ ὑπάγεις; καὶ ὁ Θωμᾶς δὲ, Οὐκ οἴδαμεν ποῦ ὑπάγεις, καὶ πῶς δυνάμεθα τὴν ὁδὸν εἰδέναι; καὶ ὁ Φίλιππος, ∆εῖξον ἡμῖν τὸν Πατέρα σου), οὗτοι νῦν ἀκούσαντες ὅτι Ἀποσυναγώγους ποιήσουσι, καὶ ὅτι Μισήσουσιν ὑμᾶς, καὶ, ὅτι Ὁ ἀποκτείνας ὑμᾶς, δόξει λατρείαν προσφέρειν τῷ Θεῷ, οὕτω κατέπεσον, ὡς ἀφασίᾳ κατασχεθῆναι λοιπὸν, καὶ μηδὲν αὐτῷ διαλέγεσθαι. Ὅπερ οὖν αὐτοῖς ὀνειδίζων ἔλεγε· Ταῦτα ἐξ 59.421 ἀρχῆς οὐκ εἶπον ὑμῖν, ὅτι μεθ' ὑμῶν ἤμην. Νῦν δὲ ὑπάγω πρὸς τὸν πέμψαντά με, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐρωτᾷ με, Ποῦ ὑπάγεις; Ἀλλ' ὅτι ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν, ἡ λύπη πεπλήρωκεν ὑμῶν τὴν καρδίαν. ∆εινὸν γὰρ ἡ ταύτης ἀμετρία, δεινὸν, καὶ θανάτου κατασκευαστικόν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ Παῦλος ἔλεγε· Μή πως τῇ περισσοτέρᾳ λύπῃ καταποθῇ ὁ τοιοῦτος. Ταῦτα δὲ ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὐκ εἶπον ὑμῖν, φησί. Τίνος δὲ ἕνεκεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς οὐκ εἶπεν; Ἵνα μή τις λέγῃ, ὅτι ἀπὸ τῶν πολλάκις συμβάντων στοχαζόμενος ἔλεγε. Καὶ τί δήποτε πράγματι ἐπιχειρεῖ τοσαύτην ἔχοντι δυσκολίαν; Ἤδειν μὲν, φησὶν, αὐτὰ καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, καὶ οὐ διὰ τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι οὐκ ἔλεγον· ἀλλ' Ὅτι μεθ' ὑμῶν ἤμην. Καὶ τοῦτο ἀνθρωπίνως πάλιν· ὡσανεὶ ἔλεγεν, Ὅτι ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ ἦτε, καὶ ἐξὸν ἦν ἐρωτᾷν ὅτε ἐβούλεσθε, καὶ ἐπ' ἐμὲ ὁ πόλεμος ἅπας ἀνεῤῥιπίζετο, καὶ περιττὸν ἦν εἰπεῖν ταῦτα ἐξ ἀρχῆς. Ἆρ' οὖν τοῦτο οὐκ εἶπεν; οὐχὶ τοὺς δώδεκα καλέσας ἔλεγεν· Ἐπὶ ἡγεμόνας καὶ βασιλεῖς ἀχθήσεσθε, καὶ μαστιγώσουσιν ὑμᾶς ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς; πῶς οὖν φησιν, ὅτι Ἀπ' ἀρχῆς οὐκ εἶπον; Ὅτι μάστιγας καὶ ἀπαγωγὰς προανεφώνησεν, οὐ μὴν ὅτι οὕτω δόξει ὁ θάνατος αὐτῶν εἶναι περισπούδαστος, ὡς καὶ λατρείαν τὸ πρᾶγμα νομίζεσθαι. Τοῦτο γὰρ πάντων μᾶλλον ἱκανὸν ἦν αὐτοὺς καταπλῆξαι, εἴ γε ἔμελλον ὡς ἀσεβεῖς καὶ λυμεῶνες κριθήσεσθαι. Πρὸς τούτοις δὲ