The Physician of the Soul
A speculator and a lover of money. He is nourished by water and pulse, even if formerly he was full of luxury and set a Sybaritic table. Separated from his usual marriage-bed, he does not delight children; he understands doctors both by night and by day, and for the sake of beloved profit, he hastens toward health with many wages. Such is the sick man of the body.
But he who is badly disposed regarding the soul, having surrounded the incorporeal soul with physical ailments, and feigning confession and showing weakness, leaves it to be devoured and torn apart by the passion, so that it might be spread out over the whole mass? But be temperate, know yourself: you have grieved God, having insulted your Creator, who has authority over this present life and is Lord and Judge of the life to come. Have you been harmed by luxury? Through fasting, heal the enjoyment. Has intemperance harmed the soul? Let temperance become the medicine for the sickness.
Has greed worked a many-layered fever upon the intellect? Let almsgiving empty the fullness, for it is the distribution of cleansing for those who have been filled. Has the seizing of others' things harmed us? Let the stolen thing return to its own master. Falsehood has brought us near to destruction; for he says, 'You shall perish, those who speak falsehood' (John 8:44); let studied truth stand against the danger.
A broken oath leads to the flying sickle of Zechariah threatening to cut the womb (Zech 9:1); let us put on the whole armor of repentance, so that we might repel the edge of the sickle. Has someone served impiously through heretical dogmas? Let him drive away superstition with the mindset of right belief. This indeed is repentance: a release and an undoing of those things formerly or according to practice being enacted, or according to disposition being thought.
But he who knows the usefulness of the seventy times of repentance, yet is always turning toward the filth of lawlessness, becomes a slave alongside one who knows the wrath of the master, yet in his presence works evil and triples the sin. Let him become sensitive toward the...
Greek
χρηματιστὴς καὶ φιλέμπορος. Ὕδατι καὶ ψωμῷ διατρέφεται, εἰ καὶ πρότερον τρυφῆς γέμουσαν καὶ συβαριτικὴν παρετίθετο τράπεζαν. παισὶν οὐκ ἐπευφραίνεται τὰ συνήθη γαμετῆς χωρισθείς· τοῖς ἰατροῖς σύνεστιν νύκτωρ τε καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν καὶ πολλοῖς μισθοῖς πρὸς ἀγαπητὸν κέρδος σπεύδει τὴν ὑγιείαν. Ταῦτα ὁ τοῦ σώματος ἄρρωστος. 13.11.2 Ὁ δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν κακῶς διακείμενος τὴν ἀσώματον περινοστήσας τῷ ἰατρῷ καὶ προσποιητῶς ὁμολογῶν καὶ δεικνὺς τὴν ἀσθένειαν καταλιμπάνει νέμεσθαι καὶ σφακελίζειν τὸ πάθος, ἵνα πρὸς τὸν ὅλον ὄγκον διαχεθῇ; Ἀλλὰ σωφρό νησον, γνῶθι σαυτόν· Θεὸν ἐλύπησας, τὸν ∆ημιουργόν σου παρώργισας, τὸν καὶ τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἔχοντα καὶ τῆς μελλούσης Κύριον καὶ κριτήν. Ἀπὸ τρυφῆς ἐκακώθης; νηστείᾳ θεράπευσον τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν. Ἀκολασία τὴν ψυχὴν ἔβλαψεν; σωφροσύνη γενέσθω τῆς ἀρρωστίας φάρμακον. 13.11.3 Πλεονεξία πολύϋλος τὸν νοητὸν εἰργάσατο πυρετόν; ἐλεημοσύνη κενωσάτω τὴν πλησμονήν, καθάρσιον γὰρ τῶν πεπληρωμένων μετάδοσις. Ἔβλαψεν ἡμᾶς ἁρπαγὴ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων; ἐπανελθέτω πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον δεσπότην τὸ ἅρπαγμα. Ψεῦδος ἡμᾶς ἐγγὺς τῆς ἀπωλείας ἤγαγεν ἀπολεῖς γάρ, φησί, τοὺς λαλοῦντας τὸ ψεῦδος; ἀλήθεια μελετηθεῖσα στησάτω τὸν κίνδυνον. 13.11.4 Ὅρκος παραβαθεὶς ἄγει πετόμενον τὸ διαέριον τοῦ Ζαχαρίου δρέπανον τὴν τόμην ἀπειλοῦν; ἐνδυσώμεθα πᾶσαν τὴν πανοπλίαν τῆς μετανοίας, ἵνα τὴν ἀκμὴν ἀποκρουσώμεθα τοῦ δρεπάνου. Αἱρετικοῖς δόγμασιν ἀσεβῶς τις ἐδούλευσεν; ὀρθῆς δόξης φρονήματι τὴν δεισιδαιμονίαν φυγαδευσάτω. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ἡ μετάνοια· λύσις καὶ ἀφανισμὸς τῶν πρώην ἢ κατὰ πρᾶξιν ἐνεργουμένων ἢ κατὰ διάθεσιν νοουμένων. 13.12.1 Ὁ δὲ γνωρίζων τὸ τῆς 70 μετανοίας ὠφέλιμον, ἀεὶ δὲ περὶ τὸν βόρβορον τῆς ἀνομίας στρεφόμενος, δούλῳ τυγχάνει παραπλήσιος γνωρίζοντι τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ δεσπότου, ἐν ὄψεσι δὲ αὐτοῦ τὸ κακὸν ἐργαζομένῳ καὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τριπλασιάζοντι. Εὐαίσθητος γενοῦ πρὸς τὴν
About this text
Vivid sermons against greed and empty vanity, and for mercy to the poor and the enslaved.
Original English Translation of Asterius of Amasea’s Homiliae — new OET from PG 40 Greek.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 40 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.