On the Blind Man and Zacchaeus

The Blindness of the Soul§1

1A discourse concerning the blind man whom Christ healed, and concerning Zacchaeus, and concerning judgment and almsgiving. Many and diverse are the teachings of the holy Scriptures, but one grace shines upon all, and one source of teaching is the Spirit of truth.

Whatever the law forbids, whatever the prophets teach, whatever the apostles proclaim, and whatever the Gospel of piety dictates, all flow from one generous and fruitful source, the Holy Spirit; and there is nothing solemn to say, nothing right to think, nor wonderful to do, without the Holy Spirit confirming the things said, thought, and done. For even if someone has a soul strengthened by a morsel of human wisdom and by human reasonings, but rejects the word of God, it is nothing, and it will be accounted as nothing. Therefore the prophet says: 'They have done away with the word of the Lord' (Jeremiah 8:9). What wisdom is in them?

For us, then, the Scriptures of piety are the flowers of truth; and the flowers are many, but the meadow that feeds the flowers is one; the luminaries of the teaching are many, but the true light is one; the stars are many, but the heaven that carries the stars is one; the branches are many, but the root is one; the fingers are many, but the hand that writes through the fingers is one; the strings are many, but the lyre of the Spirit is one; the teachings are many, but the source of piety is one.

But I marvel how this blind man, not having read the law, not having passed through the prophets, not having encountered the Gospels, and not having been confirmed by the apostles, called upon the Savior of the inhabited world, saying, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me' (Mk 10:47). From where did you learn to call these things, without having learned what you invoke? Deprived of sight, you did not read books; you did not occupy yourself with teachings, having one premise of life, the petition, rather than the addition; from where...

So he knew the light of the world, whom he neither saw in the heavens nor upon the earth, being deprived of sight. But truly that which was said by David was fulfilled in this: The Lord makes the blind wise (Psalm 146:8). There was a great crowd around Jesus, and the blind man did not know the light of truth, but he knew its operation; he seized it by intention, which the sight had not received.

What, he asks, does the crowd intend? They say to him, "Jesus the Nazarene is passing by" (Luke 18:37). Oh, the wonder! Other things are being taught, and other things are being preached; he hears Jesus the Nazarene, but he does not call him Jesus the Nazarene, but Jesus the Son of David (Matthew 20:30). Those seeing from presumption were speaking, but the blind man was preaching from truth. "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Matthew 20:30).

Therefore, each one making the voice his own, let him pour out a confession from the heart, and let each one say this voice for himself, "Son of David, have mercy on me." And just as, brothers, when many go to mourning, and see a corpse lying there, and being wept over by its own kin, all weep—some sharing in the mourning, others searching out their own matters; and often a woman wails and laments, but indeed not for the one lying there (for he is a stranger), but for her own one who has passed before, and the stranger becomes a hypothesis for the remembrance of one's own evils—so each of you, brothers, when he learns the things being preached by the saints, let him make the word his own, speaking on behalf of his own wounds, "Son of David, have mercy on me."

And let each one say it now, being awakened from his own evils: one, because his intellect is blind; another, because his soul is mute; another, because his reasoning is lame; another, because his opinion is leprous. For the sufferings which Christ healed upon the bodies, these also happen upon the souls, and they need help from above. There is a blind soul, begging for a looking up; a blind soul, not seeing the wonders of the law; a blind soul, the...

The Capacity of Faith and Grace§2

2The soul is blind when it does not see the coming age, seeing the body of Christ but not knowing the divinity. That the soul is blind when it is ignorant of things concerning God, Isaiah testifies, saying: 'And the servants of God were blinded' (Isaiah 42:19). How were they blinded? For, he says, you have repeatedly failed to take heed, having open ears, and you did not hear. And who is blind, but my children? And who is deaf, but their rulers? And the Savior, desiring to show a blindness of the intellect, reproves the Pharisees who are blinding themselves concerning the truth, saying: 'Leave them, they are blind guides; and if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit' (Matt 15:14).

The soul is deaf when it does not obey the Law, ignoring the Lord's voice; this deafness is not by nature, but by choice. For this reason the Savior said: 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear' (Matt 13:9); not because those present lacked ears (for how could they have occupied themselves with teaching without the organ of hearing?), but he clearly shows that while the ear is fashioned for hearing, the perception of the soul is not joined to the hearing of the divine Law. Therefore, there is no profit in external hearing if the inner intellect is blinded.

Someone is a leper to the soul, not one whose body is darkened, but one whose soul is obscured. For what is leprosy in the body, if not a double color? What is leprosy in the soul? A divided mind. Woe to the sinner who treads upon two paths! Whenever one at times believes and at times is unbelieving, and at times leans toward almsgiving and at times toward inhumanity, he is a leper in the soul, not possessing a healthy color, but being divided in his intellect; and just as leprosy divides the body, so an evil thought divides the intellect.

Let each one, then, cry out for his own wounds, and call upon Jesus, the healer of souls and bodies, just as the blind man cried out: 'Son of David, have mercy on me' (Mark 10:48). And some may go forward, rebuking him; but boldness is not hindered by those who obstruct. Faith knows how to fight against all things, and overcomes all things. Even if men rebuke, the believer does not shrink back, but follows the Lord, knowing that boldness for the sake of piety is beautiful. For if many are shameless for the sake of money, for the sake of the soul's salvation, there is nothing more beautiful than holy boldness.

Should he put on clothes? Jesus commands him to be brought. The voice of the one calling upon him with faith caused the Lord Jesus to stand. He commanded the one who previously approached him with faith to be brought, and to approach the body. He commanded him to be brought, and says, 'What do you want me to do for you?'

He does not ask idly; for it was possible even while sitting to send the healing, but the Jews, slandering the truth, were able to say, as if regarding one born blind, 'This is not such, but one like him.' Therefore, he calls the one being benefited into the midst of the ignorant as a theater, so that first he might show the protrusion of nature, and then recognize the authority of grace. 'What do you want me to do for you?' He asks him, but teaches those present. And he says, 'Lord, that I may receive sight.'

See how much he receives in his hands from the one receiving the cure, so as to shut away the slander of the wicked. He says therefore, 'Go, your faith has saved you.' Do you see how the previously mentioned thing is shown to us through their works? And that the benefits are not idle, but are sold by faith? Jesus does not give the benefits for silver, but sells them by faith. If you do not cast in faith, you do not receive the benefit; grace is spread out, but faith proceeds.

And just as there is one spring, but some draw from the spring with small vessels and others with large, and one draws a little water and another much, not the spring dividing the measures, but each drawing according to his own vessel; so grace is spread out like a spring, but the intention of the approaching vessel and implement becomes the measure of the grace. If therefore you bring forward a little faith like a small vessel, you draw a little grace; but if you bring forward a great mind, you draw a great benefit.

For this reason the Savior says, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' And he, 'Yes, Lord'; and the Savior, 'Let it be done to you according to your faith.' From here the Apostle exhorts the Corinthians, saying, 'Enlarge yourselves,' so that he may show that with an enlarged mind a wider grace enters; and the prophet, 'Open your mouth, and I will fill it.' There is no obstacle on the part of the benefit, but on the part of our own laziness. Jesus, the Light of righteousness, has risen; the ray of the intelligible sun is spread out everywhere; and the one...

The Purpose of the Blind Man's Following§3

The Net of Love and the Light of Righteousness§4

4He was able to dry up the objectors, to annihilate all the god-fighters. But because he did not come to judge the world, but to save, as he himself said, the power is demonstrated upon the soul, and philanthropy is stored up for men. Thus also here he continues to follow the blind man, so that the fresh memory might dissolve the stumbling block, so that they might have the miracle flashing out.

But he received another wonder; for after the lifting up of the blind man, another blind man lifted up his soul. Who is this? The architect of those blinding regarding money, the one with a blind soul due to greed; for nothing so blinds the soul as money. Because of this Moses says: For they blindly strike the eyes of men, and he rejoices in righteous words. The architect has come, and Jesus gives, the one dissolving all sin, the one annihilating all evil, the one changing darkness into light, and bringing crooked things into a straight line.

Zacchaeus was short in age, but his desire was stretched out; short the body, but great the mind; for he sought to see Jesus, and he was not able because of the shortness of age; and having anticipated, by a device he makes up for the deficiency of age; for he runs up upon a sycamore, and passing Jesus, he saw him. But our Lord Jesus Christ, concerning whom Paul says, 'He who knows how to do exceedingly more than we ask or think' (Ephesians 3:20), did not give to him only as much as he desired, but more than he expected. For he only desired to see, but he was made worthy also of the receiving.

And he says to him, the one having seen his mind (for before he went up into the sycamore, he knew his mind): 'Zacchaeus, hurrying, come down.' A good fisherman is the Savior, bringing a soul from a tree. 'Zacchaeus, hurrying, come down.' He examined for him the rod of the word, he placed the hook of love, he took him from the wings of the mind, and he leads him under his own Church. And see, what he does. So that you may not think the word to be something forced, but that the word of God is as a fisherman, the blessed Zechariah says: 'And the Lord showed me a fisherman's vessel, and said to me: I will by no means pass by my people, until, he says, I fish them.' Thus truth having been testified, that the...

The word of God is a net, entangling souls with love as a net. And just as that glue cannot later separate the held thing from the holder, so also the souls united to the Savior are stuck like with a fisherman's glue.

For this reason, the beautiful young bird caught, David said: 'My soul clung to you behind you' (Psalm 63:8; LXX 62:8). And again the Apostle: 'He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit' (1 Cor 6:17). He fishes for Zacchaeus, and brings him down from the tree, and brings himself into his house, which once he himself had known through sins, but today the light of piety has enlightened.

As therefore the Savior entered, the tax collector received him rejoicing. Oh, the much goodness of the Lord! The sinless one with sinners, the fountain of righteousness with the matter of injustice; for matter of injustice is greed. He entered into the house of the tax collector, not being insulted by the finger of greed, but by the ray of righteousness annihilating the greed.

And see the wonderful thing: immediately Zacchaeus, standing before the door, says: 'Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor' (Luke 19:8). You have not yet been taught, and you obey? You have not yet learned, and you have kept it? The Savior said nothing, nothing he taught, nothing about almsgiving he proposed, not love of the poor he commanded then, but he was silent, and by resting he enlightened; and just as a sun entering through the rays into a house, not by a word it enlightens, but by that energy it shines; so also the Savior, having entered, with the rays of righteousness cut off the path of injustice; 'For the light shines in the darkness' (John 1:5), as the evangelist says.

'Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor' (Luke 19:8). Well he divides the greed, he cuts the injustice. 'The half of my possessions.' Everything whole is strong, but being cut is weak. 'The half of my possessions.' Oh, the beautiful voice, conquering nature, but rather conquering habit! For habit is a second nature. He cut off greed, he recognized the truth.

'I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have wronged or slandered anyone, I give back fourfold' (Luke 19:8). Here it is necessary to pay precise attention, because the wealth of Zacchaeus was not from injustice only, but also from paternal inheritance.

Abraham's rejection and the character of kinship§5

5Regarding possessions: if they were from injustice, how could he pay back fourfold what he took? For what does he say: 'If I have wronged anyone, I restore fourfold'? Even if he agreed with lawlessness, he also knew the law; for the law commands the thief to pay back the theft fourfold (Exodus 22:1). If anyone, he says, steals a sheep and is found out, he shall give four sheep. God quadruples the punishment, or rather the loss, so that even if one does not fear the law, the loss may be felt; for many, not respecting the law, respect the loss. He therefore condemns himself, not expecting the verdict of the law, but becoming a law unto himself; for law does not lie upon the righteous.

The Savior, having received this voice, says: 'Today salvation has come to this house' (Luke 19:9). He justified himself, not because he simply saw Christ, but because he obeyed the laws of Christ. Today salvation has come to this house, because this man also is a son of Abraham. Before doing the works of Abraham, he does not call him a son of Abraham, but calls him Zacchaeus by the bare appellation; but when he fulfilled the works of the patriarch, promising charity and the restitution of the injustice, then he says: 'And this man also is a son of Abraham.'

And we therefore, brothers, even if we are Christians and are called so, nothing demonstrates us as Christians in this way as the work of truth. Let us not therefore outdo the appellation with our works, but let us make the faith venerable with our works. We were called sons of Abraham through faith (Galatians 3:7); let us be called sons of Abraham through good works. For what he said, it is not the nobility of the body that is sought, but the following of the ways. For this reason Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the patriarchs rejected the synagogue, because they did not inherit the faith of the fathers; Abraham rejected his own kin because they did not follow the faith; Isaac, Jacob, and all the patriarchs rejected them too; the

For having denied God, nature also denies. And what word will testify that Abraham denied the Jews, so that we might not be bold as if against enemies, but as if reproving those who have sinned? The blessed Jeremiah says on behalf of the people: 'Lord, have mercy on us; the mountain and the city, which our fathers blessed, became consumed by fire; you, Lord, have mercy on us, because Abraham did not know us, and Israel did not recognize us; you, Lord, spare us' (Isaiah 63:16). Because, he says, those on whom we take pride were alienated from us, and they denied our race, you have mercy on us, conquering all through philanthropy. Have mercy on us, because Abraham did not know us (Isaiah 63:16). For if our things were his own, he would not have interceded for his own children. He interceded for the Sodomites, and he was heard; and for his own interceding, was he not heard? Abraham did not know us. Abraham denies the strangers in his ways, but he makes the strangers, as I said, to be strangers in race, yet kin in piety. For this reason the Scripture, desiring to show to the Jews that whoever adopts the ways of those, receives also their claim, says: 'Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite, and your sister a Sodomite' (Ezekiel 16:45-46). See how he constructs kinship from the ways. Because he thought of the things of the Sodomites, a sister of Sodom heard, a daughter of the Canaanites heard; and thus it was being shown not the race that is righteous, but the character that is venerable. But I think that the Canaanite and the Amorite denies the kinship; and when he sees the god-fighters and those who approach him as strangers to piety, he denies, and the Canaanite does not accept to be called the father of the ungodly. Why does he deny? If you insult a Canaanite and say, 'Your father is a Canaanite,' he will say: 'Is this my son, having denied the faith of the fathers?' I am not faithless, even if I am a Canaanite; for the Canaanite woman crying out, 'Son of David, have mercy on me' (Matthew 15:22), will testify to my faith.

The Soul as Mother of Christ§6

6They shall be called sons of Canaanites, for they did not preserve the faith of the Canaanite; let them be called sons of stones and woods, those saying to the stone, 'You are my father,' and to the wood, 'You begat me.' But I think even the stones deny, and the woods forbid the kinship of the unbelievers.

A stone is able to deny and say: 'The son of impiety is not my child; the son of injustice is not my child; for I, even if I am a stone, have heard the Scripture saying: God is able even from these stones to raise up children to Abraham' (Matt 3:9). Then, 'Yes,' he says, 'he personifies from the person of the stone, and a stone speaks?' Listen to the prophet saying, that 'stones from a wall shall cry out those things,' and a reed from wood shall speak (Habakkuk 2:11). Even if you keep silent, the stones shall cry out.

What then shall the race of the unbelievers be called, if not sons of Abraham, nor Canaanites because of the Canaanite-ness (for the brightness of the Canaanite faith reproached their unbelief), nor sons of stones? For even the stones deny the kinship. What name did Jeremiah set for them: 'Rejected silver, call them so, because the Lord rejected them' (Jer 6:30).

Let us then also fear, brothers. Does the nobility of Christ impress you? Let the justice of Christ frighten you. Concerning almsgiving it was preached yesterday, that it is necessary for all to set almsgiving second, that it is necessary for all to prefer the soul.

I marveled also at another ingratitude, how those not having children take others as adopted; one is made a father, and another is made a brother. You make an outsider a son, and you flee from the Master? To make a son of the one who pays you the wage: Christ becomes a son to you. 'The word is terrible,' he says. See what you say; lest by a pretext of the word you stray from the word, lest you be carried away into irrationality.

Do you call Christ a son of man? But I call him not only son, but also brother, not from myself, but following his own voices. They say to him once, 'Your mother and your brothers are seeking you.' The Savior says, 'Who is my mother, or who are my brothers?' (Matt 12:48). Whoever does the will of my Father, he is my brother and sister and mother (Matt 12:50). And if he is his mother, then the one who has honored righteousness by the designation is a son of the mother. Let every soul therefore...

A mother of Christ according to disposition. How a mother of Christ? Every soul labors in pain for him, the Christ; but if it is not transformed by piety, it cannot be called a mother of Christ.

When you receive the word of Christ and fashion it in your mind; just as you transform it in the mother of thought, so you are called a good mother of him. And so that you may know that in each one Christ is being formed and becomes a mother of Christ—I say indeed of the word of the Christ, that each of us is the soul, as Paul says: 'My children, whom I again labor for, until Christ is formed in you' (Galatians 4:19).

Did you work righteousness? You formed Christ in the soul. Did you grant alms? You formed the character of the truth. It is not that Christ is formed according to each one; for he calls the word of piety 'Christ', through which we receive the character of the truth. Did you grant alms? You formed Christ. Did you do righteousness? The character of the truth was formed.

Therefore it is necessary to attend to how one must make Christ a brother. Take him as a partner of your things. Do you not want to grant everything to him? Even if you give half, give it to him like Zacchaeus (Luke 19:8). For to him, he says, Zacchaeus gave, not to the poor. But listen: he who shows mercy to the poor lends to God (Proverbs 19:17). Giving to the poor, you have given to Christ (Matthew 25:40).

Do you not know that what is given to himself he receives back? Do you not know what a fearful judgment he has written, saying: 'When the Son of Man comes in the regeneration, he will set the sheep at the right hands, but the goats at the left; and he will say to those at the right hands, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, because I was hungry, and you gave me to eat' (Matthew 25:34-36)? See how he who lends through the poor acknowledges the debt: 'I was hungry, and you fed me; I was naked, and you clothed me.'

Surely, by clothing the naked in the apparent form, you clothe Christ in the truth. Clothe Christ, so that he may clothe you in the day of judgment; cover him, so that he may cover you in the day of wrath. Listen to David saying: 'Cover me in the secret of his tent' (Psalm 27:5). Covering is necessary; that fearful fire seizes, the unavoidable Gehenna; and if the hand of Christ does not cover, that foreign fire will make known. He knows how to take hold of what is foreign, he knows how to honor the holy, he knows how to respect piety, and he takes hold of impiety.

The Books of Life and Judgment§7

7the Christ's judgment seat

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt 19:28). Books will be opened. Books, in which the worthless things are written, in which the good things are written, in which each person's life is recorded.

And it is called a book, not because it is skin before God and letters; but because, since the book of memory is an instrument for you, it records the memory of God just as in a book; for God has no need of a book; for to God, memory is the book. Not that we, humans, reading prophets, apostles, and Gospels, carry the memory in our heart without a book, yet the God of the book does not need; the source of memory has no need of a book. There the virtuous works are written, there the worthless things are written.

Do not fear the proverb; even if your evil works are recorded, they can be erased through good works; just as if someone's name is written through piety, but he denies it by his ways, the proverb does not make the writing stay; for it is erased. So that you may learn that the one written through piety and cast out through negligence is erased, David says concerning the Jews who were once written and later erased: 'Let them be blotted out from the book of the living, and let them not be written with the righteous' (Psalm 69:28). Just as the unfaithful are blotted out, so the faithful are written. Listen to Paul saying: 'Greet the brothers whom we love, and Clement and the other fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life' (Phil 4:3).

Let us fear that book; fear, lest your sins be recorded; understand how you prepare yourself for judgment, if the memoranda against you are opened before a ruler, accusing you of injustice, charging you with madness; understand how much fear, how much trembling, how the limbs shake, how everything within seethes, of a man judging. If there is such fear from a man judging, who will be able to endure that fear, by which the Master of all is about to judge the inhabited world? We say these things, not that we may frighten, but that we may bring to sobriety. Let money not be preferred over Christ; let injustice and greed not be preferred over God. Have you heard of the things previously mentioned, that prosperity lasts only until the grave? These things were given to us yesterday.

The Judgment and the Heavenly Assembly§8

8He was training himself. What are you waiting for, that the tomb becomes the end of your life? Wait for the tomb to become the end of your life, so that through the present one you may be transformed into the coming one; love works of righteousness; it is a tomb in which we are being dissolved, a tomb in which the earthly vessel is being made to vanish.

Let us flee the coming judgment, brothers, I beg you. These things must be said by those suffering, and must be heard by those suffering; let us take up a longing for righteousness. See how the prophet cries out: 'Woe is me toward the day of the Lord, for the day of the Lord is near' (Joel 1:15). If a prophet trembles remembering the day, shall we, who are responsible for myriads of sins, remember without fear?

Let us dissemble the judge through repentance, let us blot out our sins, let us fear that terrible voice saying, 'Whosoever denies me before men (not denying by word, but denying by ways/manner, denies), I will deny him' (Matthew 10:33), I too will deny him before my Father. Whosoever should confess me, I too will confess him before my Father. If the words being examined are fearsome, are the things being seen not rather more fearsome?

Consider, brother, the judge of the inhabited world sitting, angels standing by him, archangels guarding, the Cherubim glorifying, the super-cosmic powers, the super-celestial armies, and in all these, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, and the kings in the world, rulers, judges, the powerful, the rich, the poor, the commoners, the wise, all these standing before the tribunal, and speaking the judge before so many heavenly and earthly witnesses, and denying the others before the Father: 'For I will deny him,' he says, 'him who denies me, before my Father.'

Consider him saying: 'Father, this one has exhausted my faith, this one has persecuted my own, this one has insulted my Church, this one has pillaged my own, this one has twisted the Word, this one has trampled the proclamation.' He says these things, not teaching those who do not know the Father, but accusing the enemy through indictment. Consider the judge saying, when he calls those of the earth who are bound in fetters (For to bind, he says, the rulers...

(those in the fields, and the glorious ones in iron shackles), the judged ones standing with fear, the powerful ones, and the Savior saying: 'These perverted my word of truth, these wrote against my law, these invalidated my dogma, these killed my apostles, these tortured my martyrs.'

Consider, while the King speaks, how the standing angels cry out terribly, threaten frighteningly, already consuming the sinner with their gaze; consider the angels indignant, the archangels moved, the powers shaken, the Father indignant, the Holy Spirit being angry, Him being cast out with great shame, being cast out not only from salvation but also being exiled to condemnation. For it is not only fearful not to be saved, nor to reign, but also to be handed over to the fire (Matt 25:41). He who confesses in me, I will confess in him (Luke 12:8).

Consider how much glory, how much boasting, how much a crown, when the judge says: 'This one kept my word, this one proclaimed my faith, this one confirmed my word, this one did not overlook the poor, this one trampled greed and prized righteousness, this one laughed at the world as if it did not exist and loved the coming world, this one pursued my kingdom (Matt 6:33); this one honored my word'; honor him, Father. When we say these things in a figurative way, we do not divide the value, nor do we dissolve the authority, but the indignation of the Judge is shown by the form of the category; and all these things happen for the salvation of those confessing and for the condemnation of those being unfaithful.

And what is more fearful of all is when you consider Michael and Gabriel standing, and all the angelic hosts sitting, the sons of Zebedee sitting, Paul and Peter sitting, those from among men, while angels stand with fear, and men sit with boldness. Consider the standing angels and the fishermen and the tax collectors sitting, and let us say also with them: 'How great is the multitude of your kindness, Lord!' Zacchaeus sits (Luke 19:1-10), Paul and Peter sit, and Michael stands. We are not saying foreign names,

Following the Scriptures over Angels§9

9But we align ourselves with what is written; for we have not learned the names of angels, but we follow what is written. There is no envy, no jealousy; for these are not earthly matters. Angels are not saddened because they stand while men sit; for they are partakers of the glory of the saints. Hear the Lord saying: Amen I say to you, that it is joy before all the angels over one sinner repenting (Luke 15:10). Let us therefore love the glory of Christ, but let us spread out the passing glory like a dream. For it was also said to you yesterday, how the prophet called the glory of the world a dream. For the wealth of the ungodly will be...

The Instability of Circumstances§10

Preparation through Humility§11

11He finds you as you ought to become. If, having anticipated, you humble yourself before the humbling, the humbling will not innovate anything strange against you, but having been prepared, you prepare the mind for the battle.

Well therefore David was saying, 'I was prepared, and I was not troubled' (Psalm 119:60). Let us flee therefore from arrogance, let us flee from vainglory, let us love Christ, and through Christ the poor, so that he who enriches all, he who shows mercy to all, may grant abundance to the Church, so that they may partake in piety, so that they may have.

The Spiritual Oversight of the Farmer§12

12The farmer of righteousness, who was left behind yesterday through another administration, but is with us through the spiritual oversight. For the people were not Jewish, so that I might say they were a people like sheep without a shepherd; rather, it was an apostolic people, having an evangelical shepherd saying, 'Even if I am absent in body, yet in spirit I am with you,' (Colossians 2:5) rejoicing and seeing the steadfastness of the faith toward Christ (Colossians 2:5); to whom belongs the glory and the power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages (Rom 16:27). Amen.