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Eph. Let not the sun go down on your wrath.

Gal. 5. But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another.

(1001) Prov. 24. If your enemy falls, do not rejoice over him; and in his stumbling, do not be exalted, lest the Lord see, and it not be pleasing to him, and he turn away his anger from him.

Prov. 12. The ways of the resentful lead to death. Prov. 21. He who is resentful is lawless. Prov. 14. The simple believes every word. Prov. 1. As long as the simple hold to righteousness, they will not be ashamed. Sirach 28. Forgive your neighbor's offense, and then when you pray, your sins

will be forgiven.

Basil. The sun must not set on a brother's wrath, lest the night intervene between the two, and leave on the day of judgment an inexcusable accusation.

He who is free from evil is by no means unsuspicious of evil.

Of the Theologian. For the evil man would most quickly condemn even the good; but the good man, not even the evil man easily. For that which is not ready for evil is not prone to suspicion either.

No one heals evil with evil, but evil with good.

Chrysost. When we consider what we have suffered from our fellow servants, let us also consider what we have done to the Master, and by the fear of our own sins, we shall be able to quickly cast away the anger over the transgressions of others.

For if one must remember sins, one must remember only one's own. If we remember our own, we will never reckon up those of others.

If you forgive your enemies, it will be forgiven you. Forgive the sins of a servant, that you may receive forgiveness for sins against the Master. But if he has wronged you greatly, by as much more as you forgive, so much more will you receive forgiveness. For this is why we were taught to say, 'Forgive us as we forgive'; that we might learn that the measure of forgiveness first takes its beginning from us. So that by as much as the enemy works against you, by so much more he does you good. Let us hasten, therefore, and be eager to be reconciled with those who have grieved us, whether they are angry justly or unjustly. For if you are reconciled here, you are freed from the judgment there; but if, while the enmity remains between you, death should come and take you away, having taken hold of the enmity, then the case must be brought into that fearful tribunal; and you will pay the ultimate penalty upon the verdict of the judge of all those things; and both of you will undergo an inevitable punishment, the one being justly angry, for this reason, that it was unjustly; and the one justly, for this very reason, that he held a grudge justly

(1004) What others, then, achieve with difficulty through fasting, through lamentations and prayers, and sackcloth and ashes and countless confessions,—I mean, the blotting out of their own sins—this it is possible for us to do easily, without sackcloth and ashes and fasting, if only we blot out anger from our mind, and with sincerity forgive those who have wronged us.

390

Ἐφ΄. Ὁ ἥλιος μή ἐπιδυέτω ἐπί τῷ παροργισμῷ ὑμῶν.

Γαλ. ε´. Εἰ ἀλλήλους δάκνετε καί κατεσθίετε, βλέπετε μή ὑπ' ἀλλήλων ἀναλωθῆτε.

(1001) Παροιμ. κδ´. Ἐάν πέσῃ ὁ ἐχθρός σου, μή ἐπιχαρῇς αὐτῷ· ἐν δέ τῷ ὑποσκελίσματι αὐτοῦ, μή ἐπαίρου, ὅτι ὄψεται Κύριος, καί οὐκ ἀρέσει αὐτῷ, καί ἀποστρέψει τόν θυμὀν αὐτοῦ ἀπ᾿ αύτοῦ.

Παροιμ. ιβ´. Ὁδοί μνησικάκων εἰς θάνατον. Παροιμ. κα´. Ὁ μνησικακῶν, παράνομος. Παροιμ. ιδ´. Ὁ ἄκακος πιστεύει παντί λόγῳ. Παροιμ. α´. Ὅσον χρόνον ἔχονται ἄκακοι τῆς δικαιοσύνης, οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσονται. Σιράχ κη´. Ἄφες ἀδίκημα τῷ πλησίον σου, καί τότε δεηθέντος σου, αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου

λυθήσονται.

Βασιλ. Οὐ δεῖ ἐπί παροργισμῷ ἀδελφοῦ δῦναι τόν ἥλιον, μήποτε ἡ νύξ μεταστήσῃ μεταξύ ἀμφοτέρων, καί καταλίπῃ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως ἔγκλημα ἀπαραίτητον.

Ἥκιστα κακίαν οὐχ ὑφορᾶται, τό κακίας ἐλεύθερον.

Θεολόγου. Ὁ μέν γάρ κακός τάχιστα ἄν καταγνοίη καί τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ· ὁ ἀγαθός δέ, οὐδέ τοῦ κακοῦ ῥᾳδίως. Τό γάρ εἰς κακίαν οὐχ ἕτοιμον, οὐδ᾿ εἰς ὑπόνοιαν εὐχερές.

Οὐδείς κακῷ κακόν ἰᾶται, ἀλλ᾿ ἀγαθῷ τό κακόν.

Χρυσοστ. Ὅταν ἐννοήσωμεν ἅπερ ἐπάθομεν παρά τῶν συνδούλων, λογισώμεθα καί ἅπερ ἐποιήσαμεν εἰς τόν ∆εσπότην, καί τῷ φόβῳ τῶν οἰκείων ἁμαρτημάτων, τόν θυμόν τόν ἐπί τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις πλημμελήμασι ταχέως ἀπώσασθαι δυνησόμεθα.

Εἰ γάρ δεῖ μεμνῆσθαι ἁμαρτημάτων, τῶν οἰκείων δεῖ μεμνῆσθαι μόνον. Ἄν τῶν οἰκείων μνημονεύσωμεν, οὐδέποτε τά ἀλλότρια λογιούμεθα.

Ἄν ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ὑμῶν, ἀφεθήσεται ὑμῖν. Ἄφες δουλικά ἁμαρτήματα, ἵνα λάβῃς συγχώρησιν δεσποτικήν ἁμαρτημάτων. Εἰ δέ μεγάλα ἠδίκησεν, ὅσῳπερ ἄν μείζονα ἀφῇς, τοσούτῳ λήψῃ τήν συγχώρησιν. ∆ιά γάρ τοῦτο ἐδειδάχθημεν λέγειν, Ἄφες ἡμῖν καθώς ἀφίεμεν· ἵνα μάθωμεν, ὅτι τό μέτρον τῆς ἀφέσεως παρ᾿ ἡμῶν πρῶτον λαμβάνει τήν ἀρχήν. Ὥστε ὅσῳπερ ἄν ὁ ἐχθρός ἐργάζηται, καί τοσούτῳ μείζονως εὐεργετεῖ. Σπεύδωμεν τοίνυν καί ἐπειγώμεθα καταλλάττεσθαι πρός τούς λελυπηκότας, ἄν τε δικαίως ἄν τε ἀδίκως ὀργίζωνται. Ἄν μέν γάρ ἐνταῦθα καταλλαγῇς, ἀπηλλάγης τῆς ἐκεῖ κρίσεως· ἄν δέ μεταξύ μενούσης τῆς ἔχθρας, θάνατος ἐπιστάς ἀπάγῃ, τήν ἀπέχθειαν μεσολαβήσας, εἰς τό δικαστήριον λοιπόν ἐκεῖνο τό φοβερόν εἰσαχθῆναι τήν δίκην ἀνάγκη· καί τήν ἐσχάτην δώσεις δίκην ἐπί τῇ ψήφῳ τοῦ δικαστοῦ πάντων ἐκείνων· καί ἀμφότεροι τιμωρίαν ὑποστήσεσθε ἀπαραίτητον, ὁ μέν δικαίως ὀργιζόμενος, διά τοῦτο ὅτι ἀδίκως, ὁ δέ δικαίως, διά τοῦτο αὐτό, ὅτι δικαίως ἐμνησικάκησεν

(1004) Ὅ τοίνυν διά νηστείας, διά ὀδυρμῶν καί εὐχῶν, καί σάκκου καί σποδοῦ καί μυρίας ἐξομολογήσεως μόλις ἕτεροι κατορθοῦσι, τό τά ἁμαρτήματα ἐξαλείφειν λέγω τά ἑαυτῶν· τοῦτο ἔξεστιν ἡμῖν ῥᾳδίως ποιεῖν χωρίς σάκκου καί σποδοῦ καί νηστείας, ἄν μόνον ἀπό τῆς διανοίας ἐξαλείψωμεν τήν ὀργήν, καί μετά εἰλικρινείας ἀφῶμεν τοῖς ἠδικηκόσιν ἡμᾶς.