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Quod rebus mundanis adhaerendum non sit

HOMILY 21. On not being attached to the things of this life, and on the fire that occurred outside the Church.

I for my part thought, beloved, by applying the goad of my speech rather sharply each time, that I would seem to be a source of pain to you, as one displaying a certain excessive boldness, one befitting neither a stranger nor a man caught up in similar faults; but you have been stirred to goodwill by the reproofs, and you have made the wounds from my tongue kindling for a greater desire. And this is nothing strange. For you are wise in the things of the spirit. "Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you," says Solomon somewhere in his words. For this reason, brothers, I now come with the same exhortation, desiring, in whatever way I can, to lead you away from the nets of the devil. For the enemy of truth wages a great and varied war against us daily, beloved. And he wages it, as you know, by making our own desires into arrows against us, and always drawing from us the strength to harm us. For since the Master bound most of his power with unbreakable laws, and did not permit him to rush in and wipe out the human race from the earth all at once, the envious one now steals his victory over us from our own folly. And just as evil and covetous men, whose business and purpose 31.541 is to grow rich from the possessions of others, but who do not have the power to do violence openly, are accustomed to lie in wait by the roads; and if they see some place near them, either broken by deep ravines, or shaded by a thick growth of plants, they hide in it, and cutting off the travelers' long-range view with such screens, they leap upon them suddenly, so that no one can see the snares of danger before falling into them; so our enemy and foe from above, running under the shadows of worldly pleasures, which are terribly skilled at hiding a robber along the road of this life and at making the plotter go unseen, from there unexpectedly sows the traps of destruction for us.

It is necessary for us, therefore, if we wish to run the course of this life set before us safely, and to present to Christ both soul and body free from the shame of wounds, and to receive the crowns of victory, to keep the eyes of our soul ever watchful, looking in every direction, and to be suspicious of all pleasant things, and to run past them immediately, and to fix our thought on none of them, not even if gold should appear lying in abundance, ready to come into the hands of those who want it (For, it says, if riches increase, set not your heart on them); nor if land sprouting every luxury, and showing costly dwellings (For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also await a Savior, Christ); nor if there be dances, and revels, and drunkenness, and tables accompanied by flutes (For vanity of vanities, it says, all is vanity); nor if the beauties of bodies should be offered, inhabited by evil souls (For from the face of a woman as from the face of a serpent flee, says the Wise One); nor if there be powers and tyrannies, and swarms of bodyguards or flatterers; nor if a high and brilliant throne, having yoked nations and cities to voluntary slavery (For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withered, and the flower fell). For indeed beneath all these pleasant things our common enemy lies in wait, expecting if ever, enticed by the things that are seen, of the straight

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Quod rebus mundanis adhaerendum non sit

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΚΑʹ. Περὶ τοῦ μὴ προσηλῶσθαι τοῖς βιωτικοῖς, καὶ περὶ τοῦ γενομένου

ἐμπρησμοῦ ἔξωθεν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας.

Ἐγὼ μὲν ᾤμην, ἀγαπητοὶ, σφοδρότερον ἑκάστο τε τοῦ λόγου τὸ κέντρον προσάγων, λυπηρός τις εἶναι δόξειν ὑμῖν, ὡς περιττήν τινα παῤῥησίαν ἐπιδεικνύ μενος, καὶ οὔτε ξένῳ πρέπουσαν, οὔτε ἀνδρὶ κατειλημ μένῳ παραπλησίοις ἐγκλήμασιν· ὑμεῖς δὲ ἐκ τῶν ἐλέγχων εἰς εὔνοιαν ἠρεθίσθητε, καὶ τὰς ἀπὸ τῆς γλώττης πληγὰς ὑπέκκαυμα πόθου πεποίησθε πλείονος. Καὶ οὐδὲν ξένον. Ἐστὲ γὰρ σοφοὶ τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος. Ἔλεγχε δὲ σοφὸν, καὶ ἀγαπήσει σε, φησί που τῶν αὑτοῦ λόγων ὁ Σολομών. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο, ἀδελφοὶ, καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτὴν ἥκω παραίνεσιν, ὅπηπερ ἂν οἷός τε ὦ, τῶν τοῦ διαβόλου δικτύων ὑμᾶς ἀπάγειν βουλόμενος. Πολὺν γὰρ, ἀγαπητοὶ, καὶ ποικίλον ἐφ' ἡμέραν ἡμῖν ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχθρὸς προσάγει τὸν πόλεμον. Προσάγει δὲ, ὡς ἴστε, τὰς ἡμετέρας ἐπιθυμίας καθ' ἡμῶν βέλη ποιούμενος, καὶ παρ' ἡμῶν εἰς τὸ βλάπτειν ἡμᾶς ἀεὶ λαμβάνων ἰσχύν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ πολὺ τῆς ἐκείνου δυνάμεως ὁ ∆ε σπότης νόμοις ἀλύτοις κατέδησε, καὶ οὐκ εἴασεν εἰς ἅπαξ ὁρμήσαντα τὸ γένος ἐκτρῖψαι τῆς γῆς, κλέπτει τὴν καθ' ἡμῶν νίκην λοιπὸν ἐκ τῆς ἡμετέρας ἀνοίας ὁ βάσκανος. Καὶ καθάπερ οἱ πονηροὶ καὶ πλεονε κτικοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οἷς ἔργον μέν ἐστι καὶ προαί 31.541 ρεσις ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων πλουτεῖν, δύναμις δὲ οὐ πάρ εστιν ὥστε μετὰ παῤῥησίας βιάζεσθαι, ταῖς ὁδοῖς ἐφεδρεύειν εἰώθασι· καὶ εἰ ἴδωσί τι χωρίον περὶ αὐ τὰς, ἢ φάραγξι βαθείαις διεῤῥωγὸς, ἢ φυτῶν πυ κνότητι σύσκιον, εἰς τοῦτο καταδυόμενοι, καὶ τὴν ἐκ πολλοῦ πρόοψιν τῶν ὁδοιπορούντων τοιούτοις ὑποτε μνόμενοι προκαλύμμασιν, ἀθρόον ἐπιπηδῶσιν αὐτοῖς, ὥστε μὴ πρότερον δυνηθῆναί τινα τοὺς τοῦ κινδύνου βρόχους ἰδεῖν πρὶν εἰς τούτους πεσεῖν· οὕτως ὁ δυσ μενὴς ἄνωθεν ἡμῖν καὶ πολέμιος τὰς τῶν κοσμι κῶν τέρψεων ὑποτρέχων σκιὰς, αἳ περὶ τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ βίου τούτου πεφύκασι δειναὶ κρῦψαι λῃστὴν, καὶ τὸν ἐπιβουλεύοντα ποιῆσαι λαθεῖν, ἐντεῦθεν ἀπροόπτως τὰς τῆς ἀπωλείας ὑποσπείρει παγίδας ἡμῖν.

∆εῖ τοίνυν ἡμᾶς, εἴπερ ἐθέλοιμεν ἀσφαλῶς τὴν ὑπο κειμένην ὁδὸν τοῦ βίου διαδραμεῖν, καὶ παραστῆσαι Χριστῷ τὴν ψυχήν τε ὁμοῦ καὶ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἐκ τῶν τραυμάτων αἰσχύνης ἐλεύθερα, καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ τῇ νίκῃ στεφάνους λαβεῖν, ἐγρηγορότας περιάγειν ἀεὶ παντα χόσε τοὺς τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ πάντα ὑπο πιεύειν ὅσα τερπνὰ, καὶ παρατρέχειν εὐθὺς, καὶ μηδενὶ προσερείδειν τὴν ἔννοιαν, μηδὲ εἰ χρυσὸς φαίνοιτο χύδην προκείμενος, ἕτοιμος εἰς τὰς τῶν βουλομένων χεῖρας ἐλθεῖν (Πλοῦτος γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐὰν ῥέῃ, μὴ προστίθεσθε καρδίᾳ)· μηδὲ εἰ γῆ βλαστάνουσα πᾶσαν τρυφὴν, καὶ πολυτελεῖς δει κνύουσα σκηνὰς (Ἡμῶν γὰρ τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐ ρανῷ, ἐξ οὗ καὶ Σωτῆρα ἀπεκδεχόμεθα Χριστόν)· μηδὲ εἰ χορεῖαι, καὶ κῶμοι, καὶ μέθαι, καὶ καταυλού μεναι τράπεζαι (Ματαιότης γὰρ, φησὶν, ματαιοτή των, τὰ πάντα ματαιότης)· μηδὲ εἰ σωμάτων κάλλη προτείνοιτο, παρὰ πονηρῶν ψυχῶν ἐνοικούμενα (Ἀπὸ προσώπου γὰρ γυναικὸς ὡς ἀπὸ προσ ώπου ὄφεως φεῦγε, φησὶν ὁ Σοφός)· μηδὲ εἰ δυναστεῖαι καὶ τυραννίδες, καὶ δορυφόρων ἢ κολάκων ἐσμοί· μηδὲ εἰ θρόνος ὑψηλὸς καὶ λαμπρὸς, ὑποζεύ ξας ἔθνη καὶ πόλεις εἰς δουλείαν ἑκούσιον (Πᾶσα γὰρ σὰρξ ὡς χόρτος, καὶ πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου· ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος, καὶ τὸ ἄν θος ἐξέπεσε). Τούτοις γὰρ δὴ πᾶσι τοῖς οὕτω τερ πνοῖς ὁ κοινὸς ὑποκάθηται δυσμενὴς, ἀναμένων εἴ ποτε, τοῖς ὁρωμένοις δελεασθέντες, τῆς μὲν εὐ