Letter 98: . Concerning him who received (a slap)on the cheek.

Does not even Paul, the most precise knower of heavenly things, teach you that the belly and its evil cravings are to be abolished? Yet you remain entirely devoted to the table, splendidly indulging gluttony alone, and making a god of your stomach. If, then, you live for the present life alone, you are more wretched than the beasts, for they eat to live while you live to eat.

. Concerning him who received (a slap)on the cheek. If you have been injured by words and given way to unrestrained anger, how can you become a worker in the Lord‘s Vineyard? For He determines that whosoever, struck on one cheek [2], is capable also of presenting the other, is that one who “bears the oppressiveness of the day and its heat” [3] and who thus will have accomplishedall the labour of the Lord’s command. For if you aspire to those greater rewards, do not be distraught at the lesser toils, but learn to bear with love the greater ones, for you will not otherwise receive a penny unless witnessed to by the perfection of (your) own efforts.

ΤΑΣ. – ΚΥΝΗΓΙΩ. Περὶ γαστριμαργίας. Οὐδὲ Παῦλος ὁ τῶν οὐρανίων ἀκριβέστατος γνώ- ( στης παιδεύει σε, καταργεῖσθαι τὴν γαστέρα καὶ τὰς ταύτης δυσορεξίας ἀποφαινόμενος· ἀλλ᾿ ὅλος εἶ περὶ τράπεζαν λίχνος, μόνην λαμπρῶς τὴν κατάποσιν κο- λακεύων, καὶ Θεὸν ἡγούμενος τὴν κοιλίαν. Εἰ τοίνυν τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ πάντα νομίζεις συγκαταλύεσθαι, καλῶς ἀγωνίζῃ στενοχωρούμενος βρώμασιν (97)· εἰ δὲ τι καὶ μετὰ ταύτην πιστεύεις ἔσεσθαι, ἑτοίμαζε τὰ ἔργα σου πρὸς τὴν ἔξοδον. ΔΟΜΝΩ Οἱ τοῦ θεοῦ δοῦλοι οὐ μόνου τῆς τῶν δούλων ἀπολαύουσιν ΛΔ΄.-ΤΟ ΑΥΤΟ. Εἰς τὸ εἰρημένον· « Προφήτην ὑμῖν ἀναστήσει Κύριος ὁ Θεός. » Εἰπὲ τῷ πρὸς σὲ διενεχθέντι Ἰουδαίῳ, καὶ μηδὲν μὲν γενναῖον, μηδὲ νεανικὸν φράσαντι, ἀγυρτικὰς δὲ λογοποιίας ἐμέσαντι, καὶ φήσαντι περὶ τοῦ παιδὸς Ναυῆ εἰρῆσθαι τὸ « Προφήτην ὑμῖν ἀναστήσει ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ὑμῶν ὡς ἐμὲ, ὅτι κατὰ πολλὰ πλημμελεῖς, καὶ νοῶν οὐχ ὑγιῶς, καὶ φεύγων τὸ μα- θεῖν, καὶ κρύπτων τὰ μείζονα ἢ κατὰ Μωσέα. Είρη- ται γάρ ··· Αὐτοῦ ἀκούσεσθε κατὰ πάντα (48) ὅσα ἂν ἐντείληται. Ἔσται δὲ ψυχὴ, ἥτις ἂν μὴ ἀκούσῃ τοῦ προφήτου ἐκείνου, ἐξολοθρευθήσεται ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτῆς. » Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ μετὰ τὴν χειροτονίαν ἐκείνου, ταῦθ᾽ ὁ Μωσῆς ἔνθους γενόμενος ἐθέσπισε. Α τον εἶναι, ᾧ καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου ἐπιψεύδεσθε ὄνομα, ἡγνόησεν ὅτι σώφρων ἐστὶν ἡ κόρη, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἀλοίη ἡδονῇ; Εἴτε γὰρ ἐκ τῆς μαντικῆς, εἴτε ἐκ τοῦ σοφὸς εἶναι, καὶ δυνατώτατος τῶν ταῦτα, ὡς φατε, κατασκευαζόντων ἢ σημαινόντων, ἐχρῆν αὐτὸν εἰδέναι. Εἰ δὲ διὰ πάντων ἄγνοιαν δυστυχῶν ἐφωράθη παύσασθε, ὦ δεινότατοι, δι' ὧν φατε, ἑαυτοὺς ἐλέγ- ΡΞΕ΄. – ΚΟΜΙΤΙ Εἰκότως εἴη ταπεινὸς, ὁ τῶν μεγάλων ἐντολῶν ἀμελήσας.