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4. Who then does not know our new Abraham, and the Sarah of our times? I mean Gregory and Nonna, his spouse (for it is good not even to pass over their names, as an exhortation to virtue), the one justified by faith, and the one who lived with the faithful one; the father of many nations against hope, and the one who travailed spiritually; the one who fled the slavery of ancestral gods, and the daughter and mother of the free; the one who went out from kindred and house for the land of promise, and the cause of his departure (for this was her doing alone, if I may dare say something, even beyond Sarah); the one who sojourned well, and the one who readily sojourned with him; the one who was added to the Lord, and the one who both called and considered her own husband lord, and was in some part justified for this reason; whose was the promise, and whose was Isaac, as far as it depended on them, and whose was the gift.

5. She for whom the good shepherd was won by her prayers and guidance, and from whom came the model of being well-shepherded; his it was to flee idols genuinely, and then also to put demons to flight; and hers never to be caught communing with those from idols; a union of equal honor, and of one mind, and of one soul, and no less of virtue and of intimacy with God than of the flesh; equal in length of life and in grey hairs, equal too in wisdom and in splendor, vying with one another, and surpassing all others; held by few things of the flesh, but transported in spirit, even before their separation; of whom was not the world, and of whom was the world; the one being despised, the other being preferred; theirs was to become poor, and theirs was to be rich through good business; spurning the things here, while buying in exchange the things from thence; whose remnant of this life was short, 35.796 and as much as was left over for piety, but great and long-lived is the life for which they had labored beforehand. One thing more I will add to the words about them; they who were well and justly divided between both sexes; he to be the ornament of men, she of women, and not only an ornament, but also an example of virtue.

6. From these Gorgonia received both her being and her good repute; from this source came the seeds of her piety; from them came both her good life, and her gracious departure with the better hopes. These things are indeed fine, and such as are not easily possessed by many of those who boast greatly of their noble birth, and are puffed up by their ancestry; but if I must speak of her in a more philosophical and exalted way, Gorgonia's fatherland was the Jerusalem above, the city not seen, but perceived by the mind, in which we are citizens, and to which we are hastening; whose citizen is Christ, and fellow-citizens are the festal gathering and Church of the firstborn who are written in heaven, celebrating around the great Founder of the city in the contemplation of glory, and dancing the indissoluble dance; and nobility is the preservation of the image, and the assimilation to the archetype, which reason and virtue and pure desire work, ever and more and more forming according to God, the genuine initiates of the things above, and the knowing from whence, and who, and for what we have been made.

7. Thus do I think concerning these things; and for this reason I both know and call her soul more noble than the sunrises, using a better rule and standard of nobility and ignobility than most people; and defining these things not by blood, but by character; not judging those who are praised or blamed according to clans, but according to each individual. But my discourse on her virtues is among those who know, and let another contribute something else, and aid the discourse. Since it is not possible for one person to comprehend all things, not even for one exceedingly able in both hearing and intellect. 35.797

8. In modesty, indeed, she was so distinguished, and so surpassed all the women of her time, not to mention those of old, of whom there is much talk on account of their modesty, so that for

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∆ʹ. Τίς οὖν οὐκ οἶδε τὸν νέον ἡμῶν Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ τὴν ἐφ' ἡμῶν Σάῤῥαν; Γρηγόριον λέγω καὶ Νόνναν, τὴν τοῦδε σύζυγον (καλὸν γὰρ μηδὲ τὰ ὀνόματα παρελθεῖν, ὡς ἀρετῆς παράκλησιν), τὸν πίστει δικαιωθέντα, καὶ τὴν τῷ πιστῷ συνοικήσασαν· τὸν πατέρα πολλῶν ἐθνῶν παρ' ἐλπίδα, καὶ τὴν πνευματικῶς ὠδίνουσαν· τὸν φυ γόντα πατρῴων θεῶν δουλείαν, καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα καὶ μητέρα τῶν ἐλευθέρων· τὸν ἐξελθόντα συγγενείας καὶ οἴκου διὰ τὴν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας, καὶ τὴν αἰ τίαν τῆς ἐκδημίας (τοῦτο γὰρ ἐκείνῃ μόνον, ἵνα τι τολμήσω, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὴν Σάῤῥαν)· τὸν παροικήσαντα καλῶς, καὶ τὴν προθύμως συμπαροικήσασαν· τὸν τῷ Κυρίῳ προσθέμενον, καὶ τὴν κύριον τὸν ἑαυτῆς ἄνδρα καὶ προσαγορεύουσαν καὶ νομίζουσαν, καὶ μέρος τι διὰ τοῦτο δικαιωθεῖσαν· ὧν ἡ ἐπαγγελία, καὶ ὧν ὁ Ἰσαὰκ, ὅσον τὸ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς, καὶ ὧν τὸ δώρημα.

Εʹ. Ἧς ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλὸς εὐξαμένης τε καὶ ὁδηγησάσης, καὶ παρ' ἧς ὁ τύπος τοῦ καλῶς ποιμαί νεσθαι· οὗ τὸ φυγεῖν τὰ εἴδωλα γνησίως, εἶτα καὶ φυγαδεύειν δαίμονας· καὶ ἧς τὸ μὴ ἁλῶν ποτε κοινωνῆσαι τοῖς ἐξ εἰδώλων· τὴν ὁμότιμον, καὶ ὁμό φρονα, καὶ ὁμόψυχον, καὶ οὐχ ἧττον ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν οἰκειώσεως ἢ σαρκὸς συζυγίαν· ἴσον μὲν μήκει βίου καὶ πολιαῖς, ἴσον δὲ φρονήσει καὶ λάμψει, κατ' ἀλλήλους ἁμιλλωμένους, καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ὑπεραίροντας· σαρκὶ μὲν ὀλίγα κατεχομένους, πνεύματι δὲ μετενηνεγμένους, καὶ πρὸ τῆς διαζεύ ξεως· ὧν οὐχ ὁ κόσμος, καὶ ὧν ὁ κόσμος· ὁ μὲν ὑπερ ορώμενος, ὁ δὲ προτιμώμενος· ὧν τὸ ἀποπλου τεῖν, καὶ ὧν τὸ πλουτεῖν διὰ τὴν καλὴν πραγμα τείαν· τὰ μὲν τῇδε διαπτυόντων, τὰ δὲ ἐκεῖθεν ἀντωνουμένων· ὧν βραχὺ μὲν τὸ τῆς ζωῆς ταύτης 35.796 λείψανον, καὶ ὅσον ὑπελείφθη τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ, πολλὴ δὲ ἡ ζωὴ καὶ μακραίων ᾗ προκεκμήκασιν. Ἓν ἔτι προσ θήσω τοῖς περὶ αὐτῶν λόγοις· οἳ καλῶς καὶ δικαίως ἀμφοτέροις τοῖς γένεσιν ἐμερίσθησαν· ὁ μὲν ἀνδρῶν εἶναι κόσμος, ἡ δὲ γυναικῶν, καὶ οὐ κόσμος μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀρετῆς ὑπόδειγμα.

ςʹ. Παρὰ τούτων Γοργονίᾳ καὶ τὸ εἶναι, καὶ τὸ εὐδόκιμον· ἐντεῦθεν αὐτῇ τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας σπέρματα· παρὰ τούτων καὶ τὸ ζῆσαι καλῶς, καὶ τὸ ἀπελθεῖν ἵλεως μετὰ τῶν χρηστοτέρων ἐλπίδων. Καλὰ μὲν δὴ καὶ ταῦτα, καὶ οἷα μὴ πολλοῖς ῥᾳδίως ὑπάρχει τῶν ἐπ' εὐγενείᾳ μέγα κομώντων, καὶ φυσωμένων τοῖς ἄνωθεν· εἰ δὲ δεῖ φιλοσοφώτερον καὶ ὑψηλότερον περὶ αὐτῆς διελθεῖν, Γοργο νίᾳ πατρὶς μὲν ἡ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἡ μὴ βλεπομένη, νοουμένη δὲ πόλις, ἐν ᾗ πολιτευόμεθα, καὶ πρὸς ἣν ἐπειγόμεθα· ἧς πολίτης Χριστὸς, καὶ συμπολῖται πανήγυρις καὶ Ἐκκλησία πρωτοτόκων ἀπογεγραμμένων ἐν οὐρανοῖς, καὶ περὶ τὸν μέγαν πολιστὴν ἑορταζόντων τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῆς δόξης, καὶ χορευόντων χορείαν τὴν ἀκατάλυτον· εὐγένεια δὲ ἡ τῆς εἰκόνος τήρησις, καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ἐξομοίωσις, ἣν ἐργάζεται λόγος καὶ ἀρετὴ, καὶ καθαρὸς πόθος, ἀεὶ καὶ μᾶλλον μορφῶν τὰ κατὰ Θεὸν, τοὺς γνησίους τῶν ἄνω μύστας, καὶ τὸ γιγνώσκειν ὅθεν, καὶ τίνες, καὶ εἰς ὃ γεγόναμεν.

Ζʹ. Οὕτως ἐγὼ περὶ τούτων γινώσκω· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εὐγενεστέραν τῶν ἀφ' ἡλίου ἀνατολῶν τὴν ἐκείνης ψυχὴν καὶ οἶδα καὶ ὀνομάζω, κρείττονι ἢ κατὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς εὐγενείας καὶ δυσγενείας κανόνι καὶ στάθμῃ χρώμενος· καὶ οὐχ αἵμασιν, ἀλλὰ τρόπῳ τινὶ ταῦτα χαρακτηρίζων· οὐδὲ κατὰ φρατρίας κρί νων τοὺς ἐπαινουμένους ἢ ψεγομένους, ἀλλὰ καθ' ἕκα στον. Ἐν εἰδόσι δὲ ὁ λόγος ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐκείνης καλῶν, καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλο τι συνεισφερέτω, καὶ βοηθείτω τῷ λόγῳ. Ἐπειδὴ μὴ πάντα περιλαβεῖν ἑνὶ δυ νατὸν, μηδὲ τῷ λίαν δυνατῷ καὶ ἀκοὴν καὶ διά νοιαν. 35.797

Ηʹ. Σωφροσύνῃ μέν γε τοσοῦτον διήνεγκε, καὶ το σοῦτον ὑπερῆρε τὰς κατ' αὐτὴν ἁπάσας, ἵνα μὴ λέγω τὰς παλαιὰς, ὧν ὁ πολὺς ἐπὶ σωφροσύνῃ λόγος, ὥστε εἰς