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De terrae motu

HOMILY AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE.

50.713 Although sickness prevented us from dancing the spiritual dance with you, yet the toil of the journey did not exhaust you. For though toil brought you here drenched in much sweat, yet the teaching of the word both changed our sickness into health, and comforted your labor through the psalmody. For this reason, neither did I, being sick, bind my tongue in silence, nor did you, being weary, abstain from hearing; but as soon as the word appeared, the pain departed, and as soon as the teaching appeared, the toil fled away. For sickness and pain belong to the body, but teaching is a right action and healing of the soul. And by how much the soul is better than the body, by so much are its right actions to be preferred.

For this reason, not only with sickness preventing me, but also with countless other hindrances arising, I did not abstain from embracing your love, nor was I deprived today of this good festival. But though until now we were nailed to the bed, God did not permit us to be utterly destroyed by famine. For just as it is a famine for you not to hear, so also for me it is a famine not to speak. So also a mother, often being weak, would rather have her breast strained by her child than see it wasting away with hunger; so let my body also be strained. For who would not gladly shed his blood for you, for men so zealous in piety, so zealous in their love of hearing, who have shown repentance from a brief turn of circumstances? You know not day and night, but you make each time day, not by changing the air, but by illuminating the nights with all-night vigils; your nights are sleepless, and the tyranny of sleep has been overthrown; for the longing for Christ has conquered the defect of nature. You have been delivered from being men in your bodies by imitating the powers, showing forth wakefulness, sustained fasting, so much weariness of travel, weariness according to nature, relief according to choice. This is the fruit of fears, this is the profit of the earthquake, a profit never spent, a profit making the poor more wealthy, and enriching the rich; it knows not poverty, it knows not wealth. The earthquake came, and has cast out the inequality of life.

Where now are those clothed in silk? where is the gold? All those things are gone, and have been torn apart more easily than a spider's web, and have been proven more frail than the spring flowers. But since I see your mind prepared, I wish to set a more bountiful table for you. I see your bodies are weary, but your soul is young. The streams of sweat are many, but they wipe clean the conscience. For if athletes are drenched even in blood for the sake of laurel leaves, given today and withered tomorrow, how much more must you, having entered the contest of good deeds, not give in to the labors for virtue, nor grow soft. Your theater is a crown to me, 50.714 and one listener from among you is a counterweight to the city. For some have crowned mixing-bowls, and others have gathered for Satanic banquets, and others have prepared a lavish table; but you have completed such an all-night vigil, and you have cleansed the whole city by the tread of your holy feet, measuring out the marketplace with your walking, and making the air holy. For the air also becomes holy from psalmody, as you have heard today

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De terrae motu

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ ΜΕΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΣΕΙΣΜΟΝ.

50.713 Εἰ καὶ ἡμᾶς ἡ ἀῤῥωστία ἐκώλυσε χορεῦσαι μεθ' ὑμῶν τὴν χορείαν τὴν

πνευματικὴν, ἀλλ' ὑμᾶς ὁ κόπος τῆς ὁδοιπορίας οὐκ ἐξέλυσεν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὁ κόπος πολλῷ ἱδρῶτι περιῤῥεομένους ὑμᾶς ἐνταῦθα ἤγαγεν, ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ λόγου διδασκαλία καὶ τὴν ἀῤῥωστίαν τὴν ἡμετέραν εἰς ὑγείαν μετέβαλε, καὶ τὸν ὑμέτερον πόνον διὰ τῆς ψαλμῳδίας παρεμυθήσατο. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο οὔτε αὐτὸς ἀῤῥωστῶν τῇ σιωπῇ τὴν γλῶτταν κατέδησα, οὔτε ὑμεῖς κεκοπωμένοι τῆς ἀκροάσεως ἀπέστητε· ἀλλ' ὁμοῦ τε ὁ λόγας ἐφάνη, καὶ ὁ πόνος ἀνεχώρησεν, ὁμοῦ τε ἡ διδασκαλία ἐφάνη, καὶ ὁ κόπος ἐδραπέτευσεν. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἀῤῥωστία καὶ ὁ πόνος σώματος, ἡ δὲ διδασκαλία τῆς ψυχῆς ἐστι κατόρθωμα καὶ ἰατρεία. Ὅσῳ δὲ ψυχὴ σώματος ἀμείνων, τοσοῦτον ἐκείνης τὰ κατορθώματά ἐστι προτιμότερα.

∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο οὐ μόνον ἀῤῥωστίας κωλυούσης, ἀλλὰ καὶ μυρίων ἑτέρων κωλυμάτων γινομένων, οὐκ ἀπέστην τοῦ περιπλέκεσθαι ὑμῶν τῇ ἀγάπῃ, οὐκ ἀπεστερήθην οὐδὲ σήμερον τῆς καλῆς ταύτης ἑορτῆς. Ἀλλ' ἕως μὲν ἄρτι τῇ κλίνῃ ἦμεν προσηλωμένοι, ὁ δὲ Θεὸς ἡμᾶς οὐ συνεχώρησε τέλεον τῷ λιμῷ διαφθαρῆναι. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὑμῖν λιμὸς τὸ μὴ ἀκούειν, οὕτω καὶ ἐμοὶ λιμὸς τὸ μὴ λέγειν. Οὕτω καὶ μήτηρ πολλάκις ἀσθενοῦσα ἕλοιτο ἂν ὑπὸ τοῦ παιδὸς κατατείνεσθαι τὸν μαζὸν, ἢ ὁρᾷν αὐτὸν λιμῷ τηκόμενον· συντεινέσθω καὶ ἐμοὶ τὸ σῶμα. Τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ἡδέως ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν καὶ τὸ αἷμα ἐκχέοι, ἀνδρῶν οὕτω τῇ εὐλαβείᾳ, οὕτω τῇ φιληκοΐᾳ ζεόντων, οὕτως ἀπὸ μικρᾶς καιροῦ ῥοπῆς τὴν μετάνοιαν ἐπιδειξαμένων; Οὐκ οἴδατε ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα, ἀλλ' ἑκάτερον τὸν καιρὸν ἡμέραν ἐργάζεσθε, οὐ τὸν ἀέρα μεταβαλόντες, ἀλλὰ ταῖς παννυχίσι τὰς νύκτας φωτίζοντες· νύκτες ὑμῖν ἄϋπνοι, καὶ τοῦ ὕπνου ἡ τυραννὶς καταλέλυται· ὁ γὰρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ πόθος τὸ ἐλάττωμα τῆς φύσεως ἐνίκησεν. Ἀπηλλάγητε τοῦ εἶναι ἄνθρωποι τὰ σώματα τῷ μιμεῖσθαι δυνάμεις, ἀγρυπνίαν ἐπιδεικνύμενοι, νηστείαν συντεταμένην, κάματον τοσοῦτον ὁδοιπορίας, κάματον κατὰ τὴν φύσιν, ἄνεσιν κατὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν. Οὗτος τῶν φόβων ὁ καρπὸς, αὕτη τοῦ σεισμοῦ ἡ πρόοδος, πρόοδος μηδέποτε δαπανωμένη, πρόοδος καὶ τοὺς πένητας εὐπορωτέρους ἐργαζομένη, καὶ τοὺς πλουσίους πλουτίζουσα· οὐκ οἶδε πενίαν, οὐκ οἶδε πλοῦτον. Ἦλθεν ὁ σεισμὸς, καὶ τὴν ἀνωμαλίαν τοῦ βίου ἔξω πεποίηκεν.

Ποῦ νῦν οἱ τὰ σηρικὰ περιβεβλημένοι; ποῦ ὁ χρυσός; Πάντα ἐκεῖνα οἴχεται, καὶ ἀράχνης εὐτελέστερον διεσπάσθη, καὶ τῶν ἀνθῶν τῶν ἐαρινῶν μᾶλλον ἠλέγχθη. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ παρεσκευασμένην ὁρῶ τὴν διάνοιαν τὴν ὑμετέραν, δαψιλεστέραν παραθεῖναι ὑμῖν τράπεζαν βούλομαι. Ὁρῶ ὑμῶν τὰ σώματα κεκμηκότα, ἀλλὰ τὴν ψυχὴν νεάζουσαν. Πολλαὶ τοῦ ἱδρῶτος αἱ πηγαὶ, ἀλλ' ἀποσμήχουσι τὸ συνειδός. Εἰ γὰρ ἀθληταὶ καὶ αἷμα περιῤῥέονται διὰ φύλλα δάφνης, σήμερον διδόμενα, καὶ αὔριον μαραινόμενα, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὑμᾶς εἰς τὸν ἀγῶνα τῶν κατορθωμάτων εἰσελθόντας δεῖ μὴ ἐνδοῦναι τῶν πόνων τῶν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀρετῆς, μηδὲ καταμαλακίζεσθαι. Τὸ θέατρον τὸ ὑμέτερον ἐμοὶ στέφανος, 50.714 καὶ εἷς ὑμῶν ἀκροατὴς ἀντίῤῥοπος τῇ πόλει. Τινὲς μὲν γὰρ κρατῆρας ἐστέψαντο, ἄλλοι δὲ συμπόσια συνήγαγον Σατανικὰ, ἄλλοι δὲ δαψιλῆ παρεσκεύασαν τράπεζαν· ὑμεῖς δὲ παννυχίδα τοσαύτην ἐπετελέσατε, καὶ τὴν πόλιν πᾶσαν τῇ βάσει τῶν ἁγίων ὑμῶν ποδῶν ἐξεκαθάρατε, τῷ περιπάτῳ τὴν ἀγορὰν ἀναμετρήσαντες, καὶ τὸν ἀέρα ἅγιον ἐργασάμενοι. Γίνεται γὰρ καὶ ὁ ἀὴρ ἅγιος ἀπὸ ψαλμῳδίας, ὡς ἠκούσατε σήμερον