Indecent abuse in the life of the clergy. - Vain excuses for custom. - Passion as its basis. - Inevitable incitement of passions. - Refutation of imaginary justifications for illegal custom. "Nothing is more amusing than a good conscience. - The greater demands of the New Testament in comparison with the Old.

VII. Homily to the virgins who lived with men.

It is indecent for virgins to cohabit with men. - The absence of virgins among Greeks or pagans. - It is obscene for virgins to take excessive care of their bodies and outfits. - Marriage is preferable to poorly preserved virginity. - He who seduces others is already sinning, even if he has not done evil. - Women's desire for vanity. - The Manners of a True Virgin.

VIII. The Book of Virginity.

Heretics do not have true virgins, because their virgins are unchaste and accept virginity out of disgust with marriage as a crime. - They cannot count on the same bribe as Orthodox virgins. - The Apostle, advising abstinence, does not make a rule out of it, and heretics who depart from his teaching put their disciples in a position worse than pagans. - Finally, the virginity of heretics is an insult to God, because their virgins, having renounced the faith, do not have a pure heart. "Moreover, the state of virginity, in order to have the value of merit, requires complete freedom in the matter of marriage, which is not the case with heretics who blaspheme marriage. - The Church, on the contrary, approves of marriage and considers it a means of taming the passions for those who use it wisely. - Persons who do not need such a means are advised by the Church not to enter into marriage, although it does not forbid it. - It condemns and expels from its bosom only those who defile the sanctity of marriage. "For marriage is a good deed, but virginity is better, and it is as much higher than marriage as angels are higher than men." - Virginity is useful to the believer, and according to the original plan of creation, it should have reigned only on earth, because sin, which was the cause of death, was also the cause of sin. - The possibility of reproduction of people without marriage. - The celibate origin of the first men and angels. - Such would have been the spread of people, if the ancestors had not sinned. "And now marriage is allowed only as a cure for intemperance. - Abstinence is a gift of God, but it does not exclude the cooperation of man himself. - A picture of unhappy marriages. - An admonition to virgins, as well as to widows, that after pronouncing the vow of chastity, it is forbidden to marry without sinning grievously. - Marriage is a chain, because by its cares and troubles it plunges the spouses into slavery. "Their mutual submission is a heavy duty, and they cannot get rid of it except by mutual consent. - Hypocritical virgins who liken themselves to foolish virgins. - They will be deprived of the kingdom of heaven. - The superiority of virginity is especially revealed in the fact that it makes it easier for us to perform prayer and good deeds. - The groundlessness of referring to Abraham as proof of the superiority of marriage over virginity. - The apostles are higher than this patriarch. - And a rich man who is married and engaged in affairs can also lead a righteous life; But such examples are rare. - The New Testament requires greater perfection than the Old, because in the former we are given the gifts and grace of the Holy Spirit in greater abundance.

IX. To the young widow.

FIRST WORD. The sorrow of the young widow Thirasius and consolation to her. - God cares for widows. - The dignity of widowhood is revered by Christians and pagans alike. - The joy of hope and confidence that we will see again those we loved. - The brevity of earthly life, the disasters that accompany it, and the fragility of happiness. - Proof of this last proposition. - The example of two widows of the rich and high-ranking who, after the death of their husbands, reached extreme poverty. - The example of the nine emperors who reigned in Constantinople, seven of whom died of violent death. - A depiction of the glory and bliss that Thirasias enjoys in heaven.

To the same widow. The Second Word on Abstinence from Second Marriage. An exposition and refutation of the three grounds which usually compel widows to remarry, namely, the hope of a better state, the attachment to the world, and the weakness of the flesh. - The purpose of the word is not to condemn the second marriage permitted by Ap. Paul and legitimized by the Church. A widow who enters into a second marriage reveals weakness and sensuality in herself, shows affection for the land and shows how dear the memory of her first husband is to her. "She cannot love her second husband as she loved her first, and this new union turns against her both her parents and her servants, and especially the children by her first husband. "Therefore, in order to divert widows from second marriage, the legislators found it necessary to deprive the celebration of a second marriage of all solemnity, thereby showing that they allow it only with regret. Praise to widowhood, which approaches virginity, for to such widowhood belongs the same glory and reward as virginity.

TO THEODORE THE FALLEN

EXHORTATION 1.

Theodore, to whom the proposed Exhortations, written about 369 A.D., belong, was the same age and friend of St. Theodore. John Chrysostom and together with him in his youth devoted himself to the exploits of the hermit's life, but soon left them for the occupations and pleasures of the world. St. In his Exhortations, John called him to repentance by depicting the disastrous condition of sinners, the transience and futility of present blessings, by expounding the formidable and comforting truths of the Christian faith, and by other persuasions which influenced the fallen Theodore, so that he returned to society as a hermit and was subsequently elevated to the dignity of bishop of Mopsuestia.

"Who shall give water to my head, and fountain of tears to my eyes" (Jeremiah 9:1), it is opportune to say to me now, and much more than then to the prophet; for I intend to mourn, though not for a multitude of cities and not for whole nations, but for a soul that is worth, or rather dearer than a multitude of nations. If even one who does the will of God is better than thousands of lawless people, then surely you were better than thousands of Jews before. Wherefore no one will now reproach me, if I set forth more sorrows and depict stronger lamentations than those set forth in the prophet. I do not mourn the destruction of the city, nor the captivity of lawless men, but the desolation of the sacred soul and the destruction and destruction of the Christ-bearing temple. Who, knowing well the beauty of thy mind, which has now been burned by the devil, at the time when it shone, would not groan with the weeping of a prophet, when he heard that barbarian hands had defiled the holy of holies, and having set a fire, they had burned everything: the cherubim, the ark, the purgatory, the tablets of stone, the golden stamna? Verily, this misfortune is so many times more sorrowful than how much more precious are those symbols that were kept in your soul. This temple is holier than that, because it shone not with gold and silver, but with the grace of the Spirit, and instead of the ark and cherubim, Christ, and His Father, and the Comforter dwelt in it. And now it is no longer the same: now, although he is deprived of his former beauty and splendor, he has lost his divine and ineffable adornment, and has lost all safety and protection: he has neither a door nor a lock, and he is open to all soul-destroying and shameful thoughts. Whether the thought of pride, the thought of fornication, the thought of the love of money, or even the most vile thoughts rush to enter into it, – no one will hinder this; and before, as heaven was inaccessible to all these things, so was the purity of thy mind. Perhaps my words will seem incredible to some of those who now see your desolation and perversion; Therefore I grieve and lament, and I will not cease to do so until I see you again in your former glory. Though it seems impossible to men, yet all things are possible for God: for He "lifts up the poor out of the dust, and exalts the poor out of the dust, to sit him down with princes, with the princes of his people; Does he bring the barren into the house as a mother who rejoices in her children?" (Psalm 112:7-9). Do not despair of a change for the better. If the devil was so strong that he brought you down from the height and height of virtue to the extremes of vice, then God will be much more powerful to raise you to your former freedom, and to make you not only the same, but also much more blessed than before. Only do not lose heart, do not lose good hopes, do not fall into the passion of the wicked. It is not the multitude of sins that usually plunges into despair, but the impious state of the soul. That is why Solomon did not simply say: "Everyone who "reaches to the depths of evil," but only one "wicked": "When the wicked reach the depths of evil, he is negligent" (Proverbs 18:3). Only such people have this passion when they come to the depths of evil. It does not allow them to rise and rise again to the place from which they fell. This thought, like a yoke, lying on the neck of the soul and forcing it to look down, prevents it from raising its gaze to its Lord. But it is characteristic of a man of courage and valour to break this yoke, to drive away from him the executioner who laid it, and to pronounce the words of the prophet: "As the eyes of a servant are on the hand of her mistress, so are our eyes on the Lord our God, until He has mercy on us. Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we are filled with contempt" (Psalm 122:2,3). Truly divine are these instructions and suggestions of heavenly wisdom. "Satisfied," he says, "with contempt," and have suffered many calamities; however, let us not cease to lift up our eyes to God and ask Him, until we receive what we ask for. It is characteristic of a courageous soul not to fall down and not to despair before the multitude of calamities that befall it, and after repeated and unsuccessful prayers not to retreat, but to wait "until He has mercy on us," as Blessed David says.

2. The devil plunges us into thoughts of despair in order to destroy hope in God – this safe anchor, this support of our life, this guide on the path leading to heaven, this salvation of perishing souls. "In hope," says (the Apostle), "we are saved" (Romans 8:24). For it is like a strong chain hanging from heaven, supporting our souls, gradually raising to the heights of those who hold fast to it, and lifting us above the storm of worldly evils. Therefore, if anyone weakens and lowers this sacred anchor from his hands, he will immediately fall and perish in the abyss of vice. Knowing this, the evil one, as soon as he notices that we ourselves are burdened by the consciousness of evil deeds, having come and himself still imposes on us a thought of despair, which is heavier than lead; and if we accept it, then, carried away by the weight and torn away from that chain, we will inevitably immediately plunge into the depths of evil, where exactly you are now, having rejected the commands of the meek and humble Lord and fulfilling all the commands of the cruel, fierce and implacable enemy of our salvation, having broken the good yoke and thrown off the light burden, and instead of them putting iron chains on ourselves and hanging a millstone around your neck (Matt. 18:6). Where will you stop, and when will you cease to drown your poor soul, having imposed upon yourself such a necessity – to be constantly carried down? The woman who found one drachma invited her neighbors to share in her joy, saying: "Rejoice with me" (Luke 15:9); And now I will invite all my friends, both mine and yours, to the opposite, I will not say, "Rejoice with me," but "Weep with me, raise up the same weeping, and cry out with us in a bitter voice. For a great calamity has befallen us, not so many talents of gold have fallen from my hand, nor a multitude of precious stones, but he who, more precious than all this, sailing with us, therefore, to the great and wide sea, I know not how, has fallen and fallen into the very depths of destruction."

3. To those who would try to restrain me from lamenting, I will say in the words of the prophet: "Leave me, I will weep bitterly; do not strive to comfort me" (Isaiah 22:4). My present lamentation is not such that the excessiveness of my lamentation would bring condemnation upon me, but such that even Paul and Peter would not be ashamed to weep, lament, and reject all consolation. Someone would justly accuse of great cowardice those who mourn an ordinary death. But when, instead of a body, there lies a dead soul, stricken with many wounds, and in its very deadness showing its former nobility, and beauty, and extinguished beauty, then can anyone be so cruel and insensible as to offer words of consolation instead of weeping and lamentation? As there is no weeping, so it is characteristic of wisdom to weep here. He who reached heaven, laughed at the vanity of life, looked upon bodily beauties as stone, who despised gold as dust and all pleasure as dirt – he, unexpectedly for us, embraced by the flames of impure lust, lost his health, courage, and all beauty, and became a slave to pleasures. Shall we not weep for him, tell me, shall we not grieve for him, until he shall be ours again? And is this inherent in the human soul? The abolition of bodily death cannot be achieved on earth, and yet this does not restrain those who mourn from weeping; and spiritual death can only be destroyed here: "in the tomb," says (David), "who shall praise Thee" (Psalm 6:6)? Therefore, would it not be great folly on our part if, while those who mourn bodily death lament it with such force, although they know that they cannot raise up the dead with tears, we do not express anything of the kind, although we know that there is often hope of returning the lost soul to its former life? For many, both now and in the days of our ancestors, having deviated from the upright position and having fallen from the narrow path, have risen again to such an extent that they have covered the former by those who followed, received a reward, adorned themselves with a crown, glorified with the victors and numbered among the saints. As long as one remains in the flame of pleasure, it seems impossible for him, even if he has many such examples; but as soon as he begins to come out of there a little, then, constantly moving forward, he will leave the power of fire behind him, and in front of him he will feel coolness and great relief. Only let us not despair, let us not refuse to return: for to him who has allowed himself to be in such a state, even if he is endowed with immeasurable strength and zeal, they will be of no use. Who has already closed the door of repentance for himself and barred the entrance to the field (of asceticism), how will he be able, being outside of it, to do small or great good? That is why the evil one does everything to inspire us with this thought: after this, he will no longer need efforts and labors for our defeat, when the lying and fallen themselves do not want to resist him. Whoever could escape these bonds will retain his strength and will not cease to fight with it until his last breath, and even though he has experienced many other falls, he will rise again and crush the enemy. On the contrary, whoever is bound by thoughts of despair and has weakened himself, how will he be able to defeat the enemy and resist him, when he himself flees from him?