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in the world, and above the world; those outside the flesh and in the flesh, whose portion is the Lord, the poor for the sake of the kingdom, and reigning through poverty.

Γʹ. These men made me illustrious even when they were present, my abundance, my good delight, and when absent, they distressed me. These things held fast my soul; these things troubled it. Because of these things I went mourning and sad of countenance; for these reasons, along with other pleasant things, I also shook off the discourse; because the beloved have kicked against me, and have turned their back on me and not their face, and have become a flock more free 35.725 than its shepherd, that I may not say more youthful; because the true vine has turned to bitterness for me, and though most beautifully pruned by the good husbandman, and cultivating the good crop for the divine winepresses; because my friends and my neighbors drew near and stood over against me, and those nearest to me stood afar off; because we have divided Christ, we who are exceedingly lovers of God and lovers of Christ, and on behalf of the truth we have lied against one another, and because of love we have practiced hatred, and on behalf of the cornerstone we have been dissolved, and on behalf of the rock we have been shaken; because more than was right we warred for peace, and on behalf of Him who was lifted up on the wood we have been cast down, and on behalf of Him who was buried and rose again we have been put to death.

∆ʹ. Formerly, these things; and why should anyone, in a time of cheerfulness, stir up what is unpleasant, dwelling on painful things, of which the experience is to be deprecated, and the memory to be shunned? Silence is better than speech, covering with the depths of forgetfulness the ruin that has befallen us; unless one were to stir up the memory of painful things for this reason alone, that we might be instructed by the example, and, as in diseases, we might flee the causes from which we were led into these things. But now when pain, and sorrow, and sighing have fled away; when we who are of the One have become one, and we who are of the Trinity are united in nature, and of one soul, and of equal honor; we who are of the Word, outside of unreason; we who are of the Spirit, not seething against each other, but with each other; we who are of the Truth, thinking and saying the same thing; we who are of Wisdom, quick of understanding; we who are of the Light, walking honestly as in the day; we who are of the Way, all travelling straight; we who are of the Door, all within; we who are of the Lamb and of the Shepherd, meek, and of the same fold, and of one shepherd; not tended with the instruments of an unskilled shepherd, nor one who destroys the sheep of the pasture, nor one who abandons them to the wolves and the cliffs, but one who is indeed very considerate and knowledgeable; when we who belong to Him who suffered for us have become compassionate, and are helping one another to bear our burdens; we who are of the Head, being fitted and knit together as one body according to every joint in the Spirit; when He who does all things and transforms them for the better has turned our mourning into joy for us, and has given gladness in return for sackcloth, then I cast off silence 35.728 with the things that are past, and I offer to the present time and to you this discourse, or rather to God a most fitting thank-offering, a gift purer than gold, more precious than costly stones, more costly than woven fabrics, holier than a legal sacrifice, more sacred than the first-fruits of the firstborn, pleasing God more than a young bullock, imperfect and senseless with its horns and hooves; more than incense, more than a whole burnt offering; more than myriads of fat lambs, with which the elementary law controlled the still infant Israel, foreshadowing what was to come with bloody sacrifices.

Εʹ. This I offer to God, this I dedicate, the only thing I have left for myself, in which alone I am rich. For I have given up all other things to the commandment and to the Spirit; and for the pearl of great price I have exchanged all that I once had, and have become a great merchant, or rather, it is my prayer to become one, having bought things great and indestructible in place of things small and destined to perish; but I hold to the Word alone, as a servant of the Word, and I would never willingly of this possession

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ἐν κόσμῳ, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸν κόσμον· οἱ σαρκὸς ἔξω καὶ ἐν σαρκὶ, ὧν μερὶς Κύριος, οἱ πτωχοὶ διὰ βασιλείαν, καὶ διὰ πτωχείαν βασι λεύοντες.

Γʹ. Οὗτοί με καὶ παρόντες λαμπρὸν ἐποίουν, ἡ ἐμὴ περιουσία, τὸ ἐμὸν ἀγαθὸν ἐντρύφημα, καὶ ἀπόντες συνέστελλον. Ταῦτά μοι συνεῖχε τὴν ψυχὴν ταῦτα ἐτάρασσεν. Ἐκ τούτων ἐγὼ πενθῶν καὶ σκυ θρωπάζων ἐπορευόμην· διὰ ταῦτα μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων τερπνῶν καὶ τὸν λόγον ἀπεσεισάμην· ὅτι ἀπ ελάκτισαν οἱ ἠγαπημένοι, καὶ ἔστρεψαν ἐπ' ἐμὲ νῶτα αὐτῶν καὶ οὐ πρόσωπον, καὶ γεγόνασι ποίμνιον ἐλευ 35.725 θεριώτερον τοῦ ποιμαίνοντος, ἵνα μὴ εἴπω νεα νικώτερον· ὅτι ἐστράφη εἰς πικρίαν ἐμοὶ ἡ ἄμ πελος ἡ ἀληθινὴ, καὶ τῷ καλῷ γεωργῷ κάλλιστα κε καθαρμένη, καὶ ταῖς θείαις ληνοῖς γεωργοῦσα τὸ καλὸν γεώργιον· ὅτι οἱ φίλοι μου καὶ οἱ πλη σίον μου ἐξ ἐναντίας μου ἤγγισαν καὶ ἔστη σαν, καὶ οἱ ἔγγιστά μου ἀπὸ μακρόθεν ἔστησαν· ὅτι διειλόμεθα τὸν Χριστὸν, οἱ λίαν φιλόθεοι καὶ φιλόχριστοι, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀλλήλων κατ εψευσάμεθα, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀγάπην μῖσος ἐμελετήσαμεν, καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀκρογωνιαίου διελύθημεν, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς πέτρας ἐσείσθημεν· ὅτι πλέον ἢ καλῶς εἶχεν ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰρήνης ἐπολεμήσαμεν, καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὑψωθέντος ἐπὶ τὸ ξύλον κατενηνέγμεθα, καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ταφέντος καὶ ἀναστάντος ἐθανατώθημεν.

∆ʹ. Πρότερον μὲν ταῦτα· καὶ τί ἄν τις ἐν καιρῷ φαιδρότητος ἀναξαίνοι τὴν ἀηδίαν, ἐνδιατρίβων τοῖς λυπηροῖς, ὧν ἀπευκταῖα μὲν ἡ πεῖρα, φευκτὴ δὲ ἡ μνήμη; Κρείττων δὲ σιωπὴ λόγου, τὸ συμπεσὸν ἡμῖν θραῦσμα λήθης βάθεσι συγκαλύπτουσα· πλὴν εἴ τις διὰ τοῦτο καὶ μόνον ἀνακινοίη τὴν μνήμην τῶν λυπηρῶν, ἵνα τῷ ὑποδείγματι παιδευώμεθα, καὶ ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς νοσήμασι φεύγωμεν τὰς αἰτίας, ἐξ ὧν εἰς ταῦτα ὑπήχθημεν. Νυνὶ δὲ ἡνίκα ἀπέδρα ὀδύνη, καὶ λύπη, καὶ στεναγμός· ἡνίκα γεγόναμεν οἱ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἓν, καὶ οἱ τῆς Τριάδος συμφυεῖς, καὶ ὁμό ψυχοι, καὶ ὁμότιμοι· οἱ τοῦ Λόγου τῆς ἀλογίας ἐκτός· οἱ τοῦ Πνεύματος οὐ κατ' ἀλλήλων, ἀλλὰ σὺν ἀλλήλοις ζέοντες· οἱ τῆς Ἀληθείας τὸ αὐτὸ φρονοῦν τες καὶ λέγοντες· οἱ τῆς Σοφίας εὐσύνετοι· οἱ τοῦ Φωτὸς ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εὐσχημονοῦντες· οἱ τῆς Ὁδοῦ πάντες εὐθυποροῦντες· οἱ τῆς Θύρας πάντες ἐντός· οἱ τοῦ Προβάτου καὶ τοῦ Ποιμένος πρᾶοι, καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς μάνδρας, καὶ ποιμένος ἑνός· οὐκ ἐν σκεύεσι ποιμένος ἀπείρου ποιμαίνοντος, οὐδὲ καταφθείροντος τὰ πρό βατα τῆς νομῆς, οὐδὲ προϊεμένου τοῖς λύκοις καὶ τοῖς κρημνοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ λίαν περιεσκεμμένου καὶ ἐπι στήμονος· ἡνίκα γεγόναμεν οἱ τοῦ παθόντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν συμπαθεῖς, καὶ ἀλλήλοις τὰ βάρη συνεπικου φίζοντες· οἱ τῆς Κεφαλῆς, σῶμα ἓν συναρμολογού μενοι καὶ συμβιβαζόμενοι κατὰ πᾶσαν συνάφειαν τὴν ἐν Πνεύματι· ἡνίκα ὁ ποιῶν πάντα καὶ μετα σκευάζων πρὸς τὸ λυσιτελέστερον ἔστρεψε τὸν κοπε τὸν εἰς χαρὰν ἡμῖν, καὶ τοῦ σάκκου τὴν εὐφροσύνην ἀντέδωκε, τηνικαῦτα συναποδύομαι τοῖς παρελθοῦσι 35.728 τὴν σιωπὴν, καὶ προσάγω τῷ παρόντι καιρῷ καὶ ὑμῖν τὸν λόγον, μᾶλλον δὲ τῷ Θεῷ χαριστήριον θυσίαν οἰκειοτάτην, δῶρον χρυσοῦ καθαρώτερον, λίθων πο λυτελῶν τιμαλφέστερον, ὑφασμάτων πολυτελέ στερον, θυσίας νομικῆς ἁγιώτερον, πρωτοτόκων ἀπαρχῆς ἱερώτερον, ἀρέσκον Θεῷ ὑπὲρ μόσχον νέον, κέρασι καὶ ὁπλαῖς ἀτελῆ καὶ ἀναίσθητον ὑπὲρ θυμία μα, ὑπὲρ ὁλοκαύτωμα ὑπὲρ μυριάδας ἀρνῶν πιόνων, οἷς ὁ στοιχειόδης νόμος ἐκράτει τὸν ἔτι νήπιον Ἰσραὴλ, ταῖς ἐναίμοις θυσίαις σκιαγραφῶν τὴν μέλλουσαν.

Εʹ. Τοῦτο προσφέρω Θεῷ, τοῦτο ἀνατίθημι ὃ μόνον ἐμαυτῷ κατέλιπον, ᾧ πλουτῶ μόνῳ. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλα παρῆκα τῇ ἐντολῇ καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι· καὶ τὸν πολύτιμον μαργαρίτην πάντων ὧν εἶχόν ποτε ἀντηλ λαξάμην, καὶ γέγονα μεγαλέμπορος, μᾶλλον δὲ γενέσθαι δι' εὐχῆς ἔχω τῶν μικρῶν, καὶ πάντως φθαρησομένων ὠνησάμενος τὰ μεγάλα καὶ μὴ λυόμε να· τοῦ Λόγου δὲ περιέχομαι μόνου, ὡς Λόγου θερα πευτὴς, καὶ οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἑκὼν τούτου τοῦ κτήματος