8. How, then, will you say, will God be glorified through us, if men curse us? But not all; and even those who curse us will do this out of envy, but in their hearts they will revere and marvel at us, just as there are people who openly flatter the wicked, but in their hearts accuse them. What do you order? Should we live for vanity and ambition? No, that's not what I'm saying. I did not say: try to show off your good deeds, show them; but he only said: "Let your light shine," that is, let your virtue be great, the fire abounding, the light ineffable. When virtue is such, it is impossible to conceal it, even if he who has it tries in every way to conceal it. Therefore, show a blameless life, and no one will have a sufficient reason to curse you. Let there be an innumerable multitude of slanderers, but no one will be able to eclipse your glory. The word "light" is well said. In fact, nothing spreads the glory of a man so much as the splendor of virtue, even though this man tries by all means to conceal it. It is as if surrounded by a ray of sunshine, and shines more clearly than the ray itself, extending its radiance not only to the earth, but also to the sky itself. Here Christ comforts His disciples even more. "Let it be grievous for you," He says, "when you are reproached; but many through you will become true worshippers of God. In both cases, a reward is prepared for you: both when you endure reproach for God, and when God is glorified through you. But in order that we should not try to spread evil rumors about ourselves, knowing that there will be a reward for this, Christ did not simply speak of backbiting, but pointed out only two types of it, namely, when they speak falsely of us, and when they speak evil of us for God's sake. But at the same time, Christ shows that not only does such backbiting bring great benefit, but also good fame when the glory of God spreads through it. Here Christ strengthens the disciples with good hopes. This reproach of the wicked, He says, is not so strong that it can prevent others from seeing your light. Then they will trample on you when you darken yourself, but not when you do well. On the contrary, then many will be amazed at you, and not only at you, but through you and at your Father. Further, Christ did not say, "They shall glorify God," but the Father, by which He lays down the beginnings of the dignity which will be bestowed upon them. Then, in order to show His equality with the Father, Christ said before: "Do not grieve when you hear evil things about yourselves, for it is enough of you that you hear it for My sake," and here He points to the Father, everywhere revealing equality. Therefore, if we know what benefit comes from the exercise of virtue, and what danger comes from carelessness (for the reproach of our Lord because of us is much worse than our destruction), then let us not give offense to Jews, or to the Gentiles, or to the faithful, but let us lead a life that would shine brighter than the sun. Let someone slander us; We should not grieve when we hear this backbiting, but when it is just. If we live in wickedness, then even if no one curses us, we are the most miserable; On the contrary, if we live virtuously, then even if the whole universe says evil things about us, then we will be the happiest of all, and we will attract to ourselves all those who want to be saved, because they will pay attention not to the backbiting of the wicked, but to the virtuous life. Truly, the voice of virtue is louder than any trumpet, and pure life is brighter than the sun itself, even though there be an innumerable multitude of slanderers.

But if those who curse also appear, do not be troubled by this; Do not be troubled that you are slandered before people, but examine the conscience of those who slander, and you will see that they applaud you, marvel at you, and inwardly shower you with innumerable praises. Thus, notice with what praise Nebuchadnezzar spoke about those youths who were in the furnace, despite the fact that he was their enemy and persecutor. Since he saw their courage, he praises them, and glorifies them, and precisely because they did not submit to him and remained faithful to the law of God (Dan. 3). Thus the devil, when he sees that he does not have time at all, departs at last, fearing lest he bring us greater glory by his intrigues. And when he departs, and the darkness he brings is dispelled, then everyone, however corrupt and wicked he may be, will know virtue. But if people do not understand you, then you will have praise and great glory with God.

9. Therefore, do not grieve, and do not be faint-hearted. And the apostles were "to some a smell of death unto death, and to others a smell of life unto life" (2 Cor. 2:16). If you have not given any reason for backbiting, then you are free from all accusation; on the contrary, you have become even the happiest man. Let your life shine, and pay no attention to those who curse you; it is impossible, absolutely impossible, that the virtuous should not have many enemies. But a virtuous person will suffer nothing from them; on the contrary, he will be even more glorified through it. So, thinking about this, let us keep one thing in mind - to lead your life virtuously. Leading a life in this way, we will guide those who sit in darkness to heavenly life. Such is the power of this light that it not only shines here, but also illuminates the way for those who go there. When those who sit in darkness see that we despise the present and strive for the future, then they will be convinced of this without words, by our very deeds.

What will protect us when, with so many blessings promised to us, with so many paths open to us for a pious life, we not only cannot compare with them, but destroy ourselves and others? It is not so much harm to the pagan who acts wickedly as to the Christian who does so. And this is quite understandable. The teaching of the pagans is absurd, but ours, by the grace of God, is honorable and glorious among the wicked themselves. That is why, when they want to reproach us especially, and intensify their backbiting, they say: "Christian"! They would not have said this if they had not had a high opinion of our teaching.

However, here again there is great destruction for you, because you do this either with arrogance or out of vanity, so that there is no benefit to you in good works. What can be more disastrous than when you suffer shipwreck even at the very pier? Therefore, in order that this may not happen to you, for this, having done a good deed, do not seek gratitude from me, so that you may have God Himself as a debtor to you, Who said: "Lend to those from whom you do not hope to receive anything" (Luke 6:35). Having such a debtor, why then do you, having left Him, demand of me, a poor and meagre man? Does this debtor get angry when a debt is demanded of Him? Or is He poor? Or refuses to pay? But do you not see His innumerable treasures? Do you not see His unspeakable generosity? Therefore, ask and demand of Him; this pleases Him. And if He sees that you demand His debt from another, then He will be offended by this, and not only will He not repay you, but He will rightly condemn you. In what have you found Me ungrateful, He will say? What poverty hast thou found in Me, that thou hast forsaken Me and gone to others? Have you lent to one, and you demand from the other? After all, although the man received, God commanded to give. Thus, God Himself wants to be the first debtor and surety, giving you innumerable opportunities to always demand from Him. Do not leave such wealth and abundance, and do not seek to receive from me, a man who has nothing. And why do you give alms before my eyes? Did I say to you, 'Give'? Have you heard from me what to demand from me? God Himself said: "He who does good to the poor lends to the Lord" (Proverbs 19:17). You have lent to God; Demand of Him. But He does not give everything now? And He does this for your benefit. He is not some ordinary debtor who is in a hurry only to repay the debt, but a debtor who is also trying in every way to keep what he has borrowed intact. That is why He gives what needs to be given here, and what is there He preserves.

10. Therefore, knowing this, let us show mercy and greater love for mankind, both in possessions and in deeds. If we see that someone is being tortured and beaten in the square, and if we can deliver him with money, then we will deliver him. And if we can liberate with words, let us not be lazy to do this either. For there is a reward for words, even for sighs: and it is of this that Blessed Job said: "Did I not weep for him who was in sorrow? Did not my soul grieve for the poor?" (Job 30:25). If there is a reward for tears and sighs, then consider what the reward will be when words, diligence, and the like are added to them. And we were once enemies of God, and the Only-begotten reconciled us, becoming a mediator, enduring wounds and death for us. Let us also try to deliver from innumerable calamities those who are subjected to them, and let us cease to act as we do now, when, for example, when we see others quarreling and fighting among themselves, we stop and surround this diabolical spectacle in order to amuse ourselves with the shamelessness of others. Can anything be more inhuman than this? We see that they are swearing, fighting, tearing each other's clothes, smashing each other's faces, and calmly continue to stand. Is he who fights a bear? Is it really a beast? Could it be a serpent? This is a man who is always your accomplice; he is thy brother, he is thy fellow-member. Therefore, do not make a show for yourself, but stop quarrels; do not be amused, but tame; Do not incite others to such shamelessness, but separate and subdue those who fight. Rejoicing in such accidents is characteristic only of shameless, mean, obscene and insane people. Do you look at a person who acts shamelessly, and do not notice that you yourself are doing the same? And you do not intervene to disperse the devil's assembly, and to stop the malice of men! So that I myself may receive beatings, you will say, and you command it? Not at all! You will not accept them. And if you do, it will be for you instead of martyrdom, because for God you will endure it. If you do not want to be beaten, then think about it. The Lord Himself wanted to endure the cross for you. Both the offender and the offended, from the intense anger that possesses them, are like drunkards and those who have lost their minds, and therefore they have need of a sensible person who would help them: the first, so that he would stop offending, and the second, so that he would be delivered from beatings. So, go and give a helping hand - sober to drunk. Truly, anger also intoxicates, and this intoxication is even much worse than the intoxication of wine. Look at the sailors: as soon as they see a shipwreck anywhere, they immediately raise their sails and hasten to save their comrades in the trade from the waves. If, therefore, those who have the same trade help one another in this way, how much more should those who are of the same nature help one another. For a quarrel is a shipwreck, and much more disastrous than that. For whoever quarrels either spews blasphemy, and thus loses all his former good works, or in great anger swears falsely, and thus falls into hell, or beats and commits murder, and is again shipwrecked. And so, go, cease the evil, descend into this stormy sea and save the drowning, and, having destroyed the devil's spectacle, persuade each one separately, extinguish the flames and tame the waves. If the fire spreads, the fire intensifies, do not be afraid: many will give you a helping hand, just begin, and the God of peace will help you first of all. And if you are the first to extinguish the flame, then many others will follow you, and you will receive a reward for their good work as well. Listen to what Christ says to the Jews, who crawl in the valley. If you see, He says, a donkey falling from your enemy, do not pass by, but lift it up (Exodus 23:5). But it is much easier to separate those who quarrel among themselves than to raise a fallen cattle. And if it is necessary to raise an ass from enemies, how much more so from friends, especially when the last fall is much more miserable; After all, souls do not fall into the mud from the weight of anger, but into the fiery Gehenna. Meanwhile, you, cruel and inhuman, seeing your brother lying under a heavy burden, and the devil standing before and kindling the flames of wrath, pass by! It is not safe to do this even with animals. The Samaritan, when he saw the wounded man, a man who was completely unknown to him and had nothing to do with him, stopped, put him on his donkey, brought him to the inn, hired a doctor, and paid the money to the innkeeper in part, promised to pay in part (Luke 10:33ff.). but in the middle of the square, when you have no money to pay, no donkey, no way to go far, but only to say a few words, you, cruel and inhuman, do not want to help, but run past! How do you hope to ever receive God's mercy yourself? I say to you, who act shamelessly before all, to you, offenders and oppressors! Tell me, perhaps: do you inflict beatings, trample with your feet, bite? Are you a boar, or a wild ass? And you are not ashamed, do you not blush at your brutality, forgetting your dignity? Are you poor? But you are free. Are you a craftsman? But you're a Christian. That is why you yourself must live quietly, because you are poor. Quarreling is peculiar only to the rich, and not to the poor—rich men, I say, who have many reasons for quarrelling. You do not enjoy the pleasures of wealth, yet you seek troubles that are inseparable from it - enmity, strife, quarrels, torment and strangle your brother, and prostrate him before all. Do you not understand that in your shamelessness you imitate the unbridled of the dumb, or rather, do even worse than them? The dumb have everything in common, they gather and walk together; And we, on the contrary, have nothing in common, but everything is upside down: enmity, strife, quarrels, hatred, resentment. We are not ashamed of heaven, to which we are all called, nor of the earth, which is given to all of us as a common dwelling, nor of our very nature; but everyone suppresses anger and covetousness in us. Or do you not know about that servant who owed ten thousand talents, and after the debt was forgiven him, strangled his companion for a hundred denarii, or do you not know how many tribulations he endured, and how he was given over to eternal torment (Matt. 28:28 ff.)? And aren't you afraid of such an example? Are you not afraid of being subjected to the same? After all, we also owe much, much to the Lord, yet He waits and suffers long; He does not torment us as we do our brethren, does not strangle us, does not torment us. Yet if He had wanted to demand even the slightest part of the debt from us, we would have perished long ago. Reflecting on this, beloved, let us humble ourselves, and let us be lenient to our debtors; through them we have the opportunity, if only we are prudent, to receive forgiveness for our great debts, and to gain much for a little. Why, then, do you forcibly demand a debt from your neighbor? You should even forgive when he himself wanted to give to you, forgive in order to receive everything from God. And yet you are trying with all your might to collect debts, to start disputes, so as not to lose the slightest part of your property. Thou thinkest to offend thy neighbour, and yet thou wilt lift up the sword against thyself, and multiply for thyself the torment of hell. If you are a little prudent here, you will ease your lot in judgment. After all, God only demands of us such condescension to our neighbors, so that we ourselves may have the opportunity to forgive us our great sins. Therefore, no matter how many debtors you have, whether in money or in insults, forgive them all, and ask God for recompense for such generosity. As long as they remain your debtors, so long will God not be your debtor; on the contrary, as soon as you forgive them, then you can approach God, and demand from Him a reward for such a good deed.

Therefore, having risen above all this, let us forgive both money and insults to our debtors, so that we ourselves may receive forgiveness for our debts; and what we have not been able to attain through another virtue, we shall attain when we do not remember the evil against our neighbors, and thus we shall be vouchsafed eternal blessings, through the grace and love of mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be glory and dominion, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

CONVERSATION 16

1. But who thought about it? Or who accused Him of this and provoked such an answer? His words did not arouse such a thought at all, His commandments to be meek, quiet, merciful, pure in heart, and to strive for the truth did not show anything of the kind, but even completely contrary. So, why did He say this? Without a doubt, not without reason, not without purpose. Since He intended to give commandments higher than the ancients (as is evident from His words: "Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill. I say unto you not be angry" (v. 21, 22), and to pave the way for some divine heavenly way of life, lest the news of the doctrine confuse the hearts of the hearers and cause them to doubt His instruction, He warns them with the words: Do not think that I have come to break the law or the prophets. The Jews, although they did not keep the law, nevertheless had great respect for it, and although they daily violated it by their deeds, they nevertheless desired that the Scriptures should remain inviolable, and that no one should add anything to it. However, they strictly adhered to some of the additions made by their superiors, although the latter tended not for the better, but for the worse. Thus, for example, these additions violated due respect for parents; and many other responsibilities were undermined by these inappropriate additions. Since, therefore, Christ did not come from the priestly tribe, and that which he intended to introduce was an addition, which, however, did not diminish virtue, but exalted it, he foresaw that both might perplex them, and therefore, before incriminating his wonderful laws, he refutes the doubts that might be hidden in their minds. What could be their doubts and objections? They thought that Christ was saying this to destroy the ancient statutes of the law. It is this suspicion that He removes. He does so not only here, but also on other occasions. Thus, when the Jews considered Him to be an adversary of God for breaking the Sabbath, in order to refute their opinion and defend Himself, in one case He uses words befitting Him as the Son of God, saying: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (John 5:17), and in the other He is humble, as, for example, when He shows that for the salvation of the sheep that perished on the Sabbath, there may also be a violation of the law, when he notices that circumcision is also performed on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:11,12). For this reason He often speaks so humbly as to destroy their opinion that He acts contrary to God. For this reason, when Lazarus also called out of the tomb, he turned to God with prayer, despite the fact that before with a single word he raised many dead (John 11:41). And lest it should be inferred from this that He is less than His Father, He adds, "I have spoken [this] for the people standing here, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me" (John 11:42). Thus, He does not perform everything (miracles), as the sovereign Lord, in order to correct the erroneous opinion of the Jews about Him, but He does not turn to God with prayer before everyone, so that in the future of time He will not give occasion to the false opinion that He was weak and powerless; but in other cases he does so, and in others he does otherwise, and he does so not indiscriminately, but with his proper wisdom. He performs the most important miracles as an authorized Lord, and in the less important He raises His eyes to heaven. Thus, when he forgave sins, revealed mysteries, opened paradise, cast out demons, cleansed lepers, trampled on death, raised many dead, all this he did by one command, and when he multiplied the loaves, which was less important, he turned to heaven. Obviously, He does not do this out of weakness. For if He could do more with absolute power, what need did He have of prayer to do less? No doubt He did this, as I have said before, to restrain the shamelessness of the Jews. You must think the same when you hear Him speak with humility. He had many reasons for speaking and acting in this way, such as: so that they would not think that He was not acting according to the will of God, in order to give instruction and healing to all, in order to teach humility, in order to show that He was clothed with flesh, and that the Jews could not accept everything at once, and also in order to teach them not to think much about themselves. For these reasons, he often spoke of Himself with humility, leaving great things to others to say great things about Him.

2. Thus He Himself, conversing with the Jews, said: "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58); and His disciple said about it thus: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Again, He Himself nowhere directly says that He created the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and all things visible and invisible; and His disciple boldly and without hesitation, not once or twice, but many times says about it: "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made; also: He was in the world, and the world was made through Him (John 1:3,10). And why should we be surprised, if others have said more about Him than He Himself, when He showed many things by His deeds, without clearly expressing them in words? That He created man, He clearly proved by the healing of the blind man; whereas, speaking of the creation of man in the beginning, He did not say: "I created, but He who created man and woman in the beginning created them" (Matt. 19:4). In the same way, that He created the world, and all that is in it, He proved by catching fish, by turning water into wine, by multiplying loaves, by taming the storm on the sea, by the radiant light with which He shone on the cross, and by many other miracles; although He never expressed it clearly in words, His disciples, John, Paul, and Peter, speak of it very often.

If, intending to abolish even one commandment, He uses such caution in His words as not to frighten those who hear, then when He added a whole new law to the whole old one, He had the need to prepare His hearers and apply Himself to their condition, so as not to disturb them.

For the same reason, He does not speak clearly about His divinity everywhere. For if the addition to the law so indignant them, would they not have been much more indignant if He had declared Himself to be God? That is why He says many things that are below His divine dignity. In the same way, here, intending to complete the law, he approaches it with great caution. Not content with what He has already said, "I do not destroy the law," He repeats the same thing another time, and with even greater emphasis. Having said: "Do not think that I have come to destroy," he adds: "I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Not only is the shamelessness of the Jews restrained, but the mouths of the heretics who assert that the ancient law originated from the devil are also stopped. In fact, if Christ came to destroy the power of the devil, then how is it that He not only does not destroy it, but also fulfills it? Not only did He say, I do not destroy, though that would have been enough, but He added, I do, which shows that He not only did not resist the law, but approved of it. But how, you ask, did He not break the law? And how did He fulfill the law, or the prophets? The prophets, because He confirmed by His works all that they said about Him, which is why the Evangelist constantly says: "That which was spoken through the prophets may be fulfilled" (Matt. 2:23); for example, when He was born, when the youths sang Him a wonderful song, when He sat down on the lot. And on many other occasions He fulfilled prophecies, all of which would have remained unfulfilled if He had not come into the world. And he fulfilled the law not in one respect, but in a threefold one. First, He did not transgress it in any way. To be convinced that He has fulfilled all the law, listen to what He says to John: "For thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15). In the same way He said to the Jews: Which of you will convict Me of unrighteousness? (John 8:46); also to His disciples: "The prince of this world comes, and in Me he has nothing" (John 14:30). From ancient times the prophet also foretold of Him that He had committed no sin (Isaiah 53:9). So this is the first way He fulfilled the law. Second, He fulfilled the law for us. It is truly astonishing that He not only fulfilled the law Himself, but also gave us its fulfillment, as Paul explains when He says that the end of the law is Christ, to the righteousness of everyone who believes (Romans 10:4), and that He condemned sin in the flesh so that the justification of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not live according to the flesh (Romans 8:3,4), and in another place: Do we therefore destroy the law by faith? Nohow; but we establish the law (Romans 3:31). Since the purpose of the law was to make man righteous, which, however, he could not do, the Lord Himself satisfied this purpose of the law, having descended to earth and established the image of justification through faith. And what the law could not do by letters, Christ Himself accomplished by faith, which is why He says: I have not come to break the law.

3. But if anyone searches carefully, he will also find a third way of fulfilling the law. What did it consist of? In the establishment of the law which Christ had to give. In fact, His teaching did not destroy the former law, but exalted and supplemented it. Thus, for example, the commandment: Thou shalt not kill is not destroyed by the commandment: Thou shalt not be angry; on the contrary, the latter serves as a complement and affirmation of the former. The same must be said of all the others. In sowing the first seeds of His new teaching, Christ did not arouse any suspicion upon Himself; but now that He began to compare the old law with the new, how much more could He be suspected of contradicting the first, which is why He had previously said: "I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill." In fact, the commandments now offered were already based on what has been said before. Thus, for example, the words: Blessed are the poor in spirit mean the same as the command not to be angry; Blessed are the pure in heart - the same as the prohibition to look upon a woman with lust; the commandment not to hide for oneself treasures on earth corresponds to the words: Blessed are the merciful. To weep, to endure persecution and reproach is the same as to enter through the narrow gate; to hunger and thirst for righteousness means nothing else than the demand expressed in the words: "As you would that men should do to you, do you also to them" (Matt. 7:12). When Christ blesses the peacemaker, He expresses almost the same thing as is expressed in the command to leave the gift, and to hasten to be reconciled with the offended brother and to agree with the rival. The only difference is that there Christ promises rewards to those who fulfill the commandments, and here He threatens those who transgress them with punishment. There he says that the meek will inherit the earth; but here - that he who calls his brother a fool will be guilty of hell fire. There he says that the pure in heart will see God; and here it is that he who looks at his wife with an unclean eye is already a real adulterer. There he calls the peacemakers the sons of God; but here he frightens the unpeaceable with the words: "Lest the adversary deliver thee up to the judge" (Matt. 5:25). There He calls those who weep and endure persecution blessed; but here, confirming the same thing, he threatens with destruction those who do not follow this path, since, he says, those who walk the broad path perish. Likewise, the words: "You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6:24) seem to me to be similar to the saying: Blessed are the merciful, and "Thirst for righteousness." But here, as I noted above, the Lord intends to set forth what was said earlier more clearly, and not only more clearly, but also with additions. Thus, for example, He not only commands to be merciful, but also to give off oneself a srachitsa (shirt); not only to be meek, but to him who wants to strike in the cheek, to substitute another one. For this reason, in order to prevent an imaginary contradiction, He says that He did not come to destroy the law, and repeats this, as I said before, not once, but twice, saying: Do not think that I have come to destroy, He adds: I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Then he says: "Verily I say unto you, Until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle shall pass away from the law, until all things are fulfilled" (Matt. 5:18). These words have the following meaning: it is impossible for the law to remain unfulfilled, but even the slightest feature of it must be fulfilled, as the Lord proved by His example, having fulfilled the law in all exactness. Here, too, He gives us to understand that the whole world must also take on a different form. He did not say this without reason, but with the purpose of raising the spirit of the hearer and showing that He was doing righteousness in establishing new rules of life; If all creation is to assume a new form, then the human race must also be called to another fatherland, to a higher way of life. Whosoever therefore breaketh one of these least commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, v. 19. Having removed from Himself all suspicion and having stopped the mouths of those who would think of contradicting, the Lord already begins to arouse fear and offer strong threats to protect the law He imposes. And that His words quoted do not refer to ancient commandments, but to those which He Himself intended to give, this is evident from what follows. For I say to you, he says, unless your righteousness surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven, v. 20. If His threats had been directed at transgressors of the old law, why should He have said to Him, "If He does not surpass?" Those who did what the Pharisees did could no doubt have no advantage over them in living righteously. What was this advantage? It is not to be angry, not to look at your wife with a lustful eye.

4. Why then does He call these new commandments small when they are so important and lofty? Because He Himself wanted to give this law. As He humbles Himself, and in many places speaks of Himself modestly, so He speaks of His law, thereby teaching us also to be modest. Moreover, since He could be suspected of innovation, He uses a humble manner of expression for the time being. And when you hear the words, "The least in the kingdom of heaven," then understand nothing else but hell, or torment. He calls the Kingdom not only the enjoyment of future blessings, but also the time of resurrection and the terrible Second Coming. For is it possible that he who calls his brother foolish, and breaks one commandment, should be cast into hell, and whoever breaks the whole law, and leads others to the same thing, should be in the kingdom? This, therefore, is not what is meant here, but that the lawbreaker at that time will be the lesser, i.e., the outcast, the last; and the latter, without a doubt, will then be cast into hell. Being God, Christ foresaw the carelessness of many, foresaw that some would take His words as exaggeration, and would think about the law thus: Will he be punished who calls his brother a fool? Is he an adulterer who only looks at his wife? In preventing such neglect of the law, He pronounces a terrible threat against both, i.e., against those who break the law, and against those who lead others to this point. Knowing such threats, let us strive not to break the law ourselves, and let us not weaken the zeal of others who wish to keep it. But whoever does and teaches will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (v. 19). We must be useful not only to ourselves, but also to others; the same reward is not received by the one who is only virtuous himself, and he who leads the other with him to the same. How does teaching, which is not justified by works, condemn the teacher (when teaching another, says the Apostle, you do not teach yourself? [Romans 2:21]), so good works, if we do not lead others at the same time, receive a lesser reward. Thus, in both it is necessary to be perfect; having first corrected oneself, one must also make efforts for others. For this reason Christ Himself placed works first, and then teaching, showing that only in this way can one teach with success; in the opposite case they will say: Physician! heal thyself" (Luke 4:23). In fact, if anyone, being unable to teach himself, decides to correct others, he will become an object of ridicule for many; or rather, he will not be able to teach at all, since his deeds will contradict his teaching. And if he is perfect in both, then he will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I say to you, unless your righteousness surpasses the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:19,20). Here, by the word "righteousness" He means virtue in general, as it is said in the story of Job: "And this man was blameless, righteous" (Job 1:1). In the same sense, the Apostle Paul calls the righteous the one for whom, according to him, the law is not ordained: the law is not laid down for the righteous (1 Tim. 1:9). And in many other places it can be seen that this word is used to denote virtue in general. From the words of Christ you can, among other things, see how grace has increased, if Christ desires that His disciples, who have just entered the path of righteousness, should be better than the teachers of the Old Testament. Speaking of the scribes and Pharisees, He does not mean those who transgress the law, but those who keep it. If these were people who do not keep the law, then He would not speak of their righteousness, and He would not compare the truth that does not exist with the truth that exists. Note also here how He confirms the existence of the ancient truth, comparing it with the new; and this shows that both are related to each other, since whether it is more or less true, it is still true. Thus, Christ does not blaspheme the ancient truth, but wants to exalt it. In fact, if it were bad, He would not demand a higher one, He would not perfect it, but would simply reject it. But, you will say, if it is really so, why does it not now lead you into the kingdom? It does not introduce those who live after the coming of Christ, since they, having received greater strength, must also perform more feats; but he brings in all his pets. Many will come from the east and the west, says the Lord, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matt. 8:11). So it is known that Lazarus, who was honored with great awards, is in the bosom of Abraham. And in general, all, especially those who shone forth in the Old Testament, shone forth with this truth. And Christ Himself, having come into the world, would not have fulfilled this truth in its entirety if it had been bad and not akin to the new one. If He had done this only in order to attract the Jews, and not in order to show its affinity and agreement with the new, then why did He not fulfill the laws and customs of the Hellenes in order to attract the Greeks to Himself?