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From the works of Epictetus. Let the discourse concerning God be renewed daily, more than food.

Think of God more constantly than you breathe.

If you always remember that for whatever you work, in soul or body, God stands by as supervisor, in all your prayers and actions, you will not sin; and you will have God as a housemate.

As it is sweet to see the sea from the land, so it is sweet for one who has been saved to remember their labors.

DISCOURSE 53.

Concerning the soul. Matthew 10. He who finds his soul will lose it; and he who loses it for the sake of

me, will find it.

2 Cor. 4. Even if our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

Sirach 37. My child, in gentleness glorify your soul, and see what is evil for it, and do not give it to it. For not all things are profitable for all; and not every soul is pleased in everything.

The destruction of the lawless is evil; for by impiety they take away their own soul.

(956) Proverbs 11. Every simple soul is blessed.

Of Basil. A treasure of the soul is a poverty of the body. One must consider this to be good: the good of the soul.

No one overlooks his own child about to fall into a pit, or having fallen in, abandons him to the fall; how much more terrible is it to abandon a soul falling into the depth of evils to destruction?

Of the Theologian. What do you wish to become? I ask my soul. What to you is great or what is small of the things honored by mortals? Seek only eagerly for something brilliant, and I will give it to you.

Sacrifice to God with your soul, rather than in the manner of a prayer.

I am persuaded by the words of the wise, that every soul, being both good and beloved of God, when, freed from the body to which it was bound, it departs from here, immediately becoming conscious in the vision of the good that awaits it, since that which cast a shadow has been cleansed away, or put aside, or I know not what one should even say, enjoys and exults in a certain wondrous pleasure, and joyfully goes towards its own Master; having escaped the life here as from some harsh prison, and having shaken off the fetters that surrounded it, by which the wing of the mind was dragged down; and, as it were, already enjoys in its imagination the blessedness laid up for it.

Of Chrysostom. God has given us all things in our nature twofold: two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet; if either of these is harmed, through the other the need

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Ἐκ τῶν Ἐπικτήτου. Ἀνανεούσθω ὁ περί Θεοῦ λόγος καθ᾿ ἡμέραν, μᾶλλον ἤ τά σιτία.

Συνεχέστερον νόει τόν Θεόν, ἤ ἀνάπνει.

Ἐάν ἀεί μνημονεύῃς, ὅτι ᾧ ἐργάζῃ κατά ψυχήν ἤ σῶμα Θεός παρέστηκεν ἔφορος, ἐν πάσαις σου ταῖς προσευχαῖς καί ταῖς πράξεσιν, οὐ μή ἁμάρτῃς· ἕξεις δέ τόν Θεόν σύνοικον.

Ὡς ἡδύ τήν θάλασσαν ἀπό γῆς ὁρᾷν, οὕτως ἡδύ τῷ σωθέντι μεμνῆσθαι τῶν πόνων.

ΛΟΓΟΣ Ν Γ´.

Περί ψυχῆς. Ματθ. ι´. Ὁ εὑρών τήν ψυχήν αὐτοῦ ἀπολέσει αὐτήν· καί ὁ ἀπολέσας αὐτήν ἕνεκεν

ἑμοῦ, εὑρήσει αὐτήν.

Β´ Κορ. δ´. Εἰ καί ὁ ἔξω ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος διαφθείρεται· ἀλλ' ὁ ἔσωθεν ἀνακαινοῦται ἡμέρᾳ καί ἡμέρᾳ.

Σιράχ λζ´. Τέκνον, ἐν πραΰτητι δόξασον τήν ψυχήν σου, καί ἴδε τί πονηρόν αὐτῇ, καί μή δῶς αὐτῇ. Οὐ γάρ πάντα πᾶσι συμφέρει· καί οὐ πᾶσα ψυχή ἐν παντί εὐδοκεῖ.

Ἡ καταστροφή τῶν παρανόμων κακή· τῇ γάρ ἀσεβείᾳ τήν αὐτῶν ψυχήν ἀφαιροῦνται.

(956) Παροιμ. ια΄ . Ψυχή εὐλογημένη, πᾶσα ἀπλῆ.

Βασιλείου. Ψυχῆς θησαύρισμα, σώματος ἔνδεια. Τούτου καλόν ἡγεῖσθαι χρή, τό τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγαθόν.

Οὐδείς περιορᾷ τό ἑαυτοῦ τέκνον μέλλον καταπίπτειν εἰς βόθυνον, ἤ ἐμπεσόν ἐναφίησι τῷ πτώματι· πόσῳ δέ δεινότερον ψυχήν εἰς βάθος κακῶν ἐμπίπτουσαν ἐναφεῖναι τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ;

Θεολόγου. Τί σοι θέλεις γενέσθαι; ψυχήν ἐμήν ἐρωτῶ. Τί σοι μέγα ἤ τί μικρόν τῶν τιμίων βροτοῖσι; Ζήτει μόνον προθύμως τι λαμπρόν, καί δώσω σοι.

Ψυχῇ θύε τῷ Θεῷ μᾶλλον, ἤ εὐχῆς τρόπῳ.

Πείθομαι σοφῶν λόγοις, ὅτι ψυχή πᾶσα καλή τε καί θεοφιλής, ἐπειδάν τοῦ συνδεδεμένου λυθεῖσα σώματος ἐνθένδε ἀπαλλαγῆ, εὐθύς μέν ἐν συναισθήσει ἐν θεωρίᾳ τοῦ μέλλοντος αὐτῇ καλοῦ γενομένη, ἅτε τοῦ ἐπισκοτοῦντος ἀνακαθαρθέντος, ἤ ἀποτεθέντος, ἤ οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὅ τι καί λέγειν χρή, θαυμασίαν τινά ἡδονήν ἥδεται καί ἀγάλλεται, καί ἵλεως χωρεῖ πρός τόν ἑαυτῆς ∆εσπότην· ὥσπερ τι δεσμωτήριον χαλεπόν τόν ἐντεῦθεν βίον ἀποφυγοῦσα, καί τάς περικειμένας ἀποσεισαμένη πέδας, ὑφ᾿ ὧν τό τῆς διανοίας πτερόν καθείλκετο· καί οἶον ἤδη τῇ φαντασίᾳ καρποῦται τήν ἀποκειμένην μακαριότητα.

Χρυσοστ. Πάντα διπλᾶ δέδωκεν ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός τῇ φύσει, δύο ὀφθαλμούς, δύο ὦτα, δύο χεῖρας, δύο πόδας· ἐάν ὁπότερον τούτων βλαβῇ, διά τοῦ ἑτέρου τήν χρείαν