368

Aristot. Just as they say in medicine, the more you nourish impure bodies, the more you will harm them, providing material for their bad humors; so also a soul possessed by wicked doctrines, the more you teach it, the more you will harm it, providing it with greater principles for false opinion.

SERMON 52.

On memory Luke 22. This is my body, which is given for you; this do in

remembrance of me.

1 Tim. 2. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.

Prov. 10. The memory of the just is with praises; but the name of the wicked is extinguished.

Sirach 7. In all your works remember your last end, and you will not sin.

Of Basil. It is impossible to turn from the just way, without having souls sick with forgetfulness of God.

Memory is the keeping of what is known; recollection, the recovery of what has departed. Of the Theologian. One must remember God more than one must breathe. Revere God in deeds, praise him in words, and honor him in thought. Clement. A vivid memory of death has cut off foods; and of foods in

being cut off in humility, passions were cut off along with them.

Chrysostom. A sign of piety is to keep a constant memory of more divine things, and to propitiate God with frequent prayers.

(953) If someone, setting up a lifeless image of a child or a friend or a relative, thinks that departed one is present, and imagines him through the lifeless image; how much more do we, through the divine Scriptures, enjoy the presence of the saints, having not images of their bodies, but of their souls. For the things spoken by them are images of their souls.

Of Plotinus. Plato used to say that the very young and the old are forgetful; for it flows away from the former because of their growth, and from the latter because of their decline. And likewise for those who are too quick or too slow; for the former are wetter than they should be, and the latter, harder; and for the one, the impressions do not remain in the soul, while for the other, they do not take hold at all.

Of Plato in Cratylus. Memory somehow indicates in every way that it is a remaining in the soul, and not a motion.

The retention of impressions is called memory; while the pondering of these, recollection; and for the most part, the slow are better at remembering; while the quick and ready-to-learn are better at recollecting.

Charicl. For a great thing for the forgetfulness of evils, is the reminder through the eyes of the soul being dimmed.

368

Ἀριστοτ. Ὥσπερ γασίν ἐν ἰατρικῇ, τά μή καθαρά τῶν σωμάτων ὁπόσῳ ἀν θρέψῃς, μᾶλλον βλάψεις ὕλην ἀποβαλών τῇ κακοχυμίᾳ· οὕτω καί ψυχήν μοχθηροῖς δόγμασι προκατειλημμένην, ὁπόσῳ ἄν διδάξῃς, μᾶλλον βλάψεις μείζονας ἀρχάς αὐτῇ τῆς ψευδοδοξίας παρέχων.

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΝΒ´.

Περί μνήμης Λουκ. κβ´. Τοῦτό ἐστι τό σῶμα μου, τό ὑπέρ ὑμῶν διδόμενον· τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τήν

ἐμήν ἀνάμνησιν.

Α´Τιμ. β´. Μνημόνευε Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν ἐγηγερμένον ἐκ νεκρῶν.

Παροιμ. ι΄ . Μνήμη δικαίου μετ᾿ ἐγκωμίων· ὄνομα δέ ἀσεβῶν σβέννυται.

Σιράχ ζ´. Ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔργοις σου μιμνήσκου τά ἔσχατά σου, καί οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεις.

Βασιλείου. Ἀμήχανον ἐκτραπῆναι τῆς δικαίας ὁδοῦ, μή λήθην Θεοῦ ταῖς ψυχαῖς νοσήσαντας.

Μνήμη ἐστίν ἡ τοῦ γνωσθέντος τήρησις· ἀνάμνησις, ἡ τοῦ ἀπελθόντος ἀνάληψις. Θεολόγου. Μνημονευτέον Θεοῦ μᾶλλον, ἤ ἀναπνευστέον. Τόν Θεόν ἔργοις μέν σέβου, λόγοις δέ ὕμνει, ἐννοίᾳ δέ τίμα. Κλήμεντ. Μνήμη θανάτου ἐναργής περιέκοψε βρώματα· βρωμάτων δέ ἐν

ταπεινώσει κοπέντων, συνεξεκόπησαν πάθη.

Χρυσοστ. Εὐσεβείας σημεῖον, τό συνεκῆ μνήμην ποιεῖσθαι τῶν θειοτέρων, καί τό πυκναῖς ἐντεύξεσιν ἐξιλεοῦσθαι τόν Θεόν.

(953) Εἰ εἰκόνα τις ἄψυχον ἀναθείς, παιδός ἤ φίλου ἤ συγγενοῦς, νομίζει παρεῖναι ἐκεῖνον τόν ἀπελθόντα, καί διά τῆς εἰκόνος αὐτόν φαντάζεται τῆς ἀψύχου· πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς διά τῶν θείων Γραφῶν, τῆς τῶν ἁγίων παρουσίας ἀπολαύομεν, οὐχί τῶν σωμάτων αὐτῶν, ἀλλά τῶν ψυχῶν τάς εἰκόνας ἔχοντες. Τά γάρ παρ᾿ αὐτῶν εἰρημένα τῶν ψυχῶν αὐτῶν εἰκόνες εἰσίν.

Πλωτίνου. Πλάτων ἔλεγε, τούς μέν νέους σφόδρα καί τούς γέροντας, ἀμνήμονας εἶναι· ὑποῤῥεῖν γάρ, τῶν μέν, διά τήν αὔξησιν, τῶν δέ, διά τήν φθίσιν. Ὁμοίως δέ καί τούς λίαν ταχεῖς ἤ βραδεῖς· τούς γάρ ὑγροτέρους εἶναι τοῦ δέοντος, τούς δέ, σκληροτέρους· καί τοῖς μέν οὐ μένειν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ τά φαντάσματα, τῶν δέ οὐχ ἅπτεσθαι τό παράπαν.

Πλάτωνος ἐν Κρατύλ. Μνήμη πάντη που μηνύει, ὅτι μονή ἐστιν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ φορά.

Τήν κατοχήν τῶν φαντασμάτων μνήμην ὀνομάζεσθαι· τήν δέ ἀναπόληψιν τούτων, ἀνάμνησιν· καί ὡς ἐπί πολύ, μνημονευτέρους μέν ὑπάρχειν τούς βραδεῖς· ἀναμνηστικωτέρους δέ, τούς ταχεῖς καί εὐμαθεῖς.

Χαρικλ. Μέγα γάρ εἰς λήθην κακῶν, ἡ δι᾿ ὀφθαλμῶν τῆς ψυχῆς ὑπόμνησις ἀμαυρουμένη.