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in each age, or rather an exchange of properties, in old age the power for good being youthful, and in youth, youth being inactive toward evil. And if you will seek out the loves of that age, imitate the vehemence and ardor of the divine love of wisdom, with which he grew up from infancy and which endured even to old age. But if you are unable to look at him, just as those with rather diseased eyes are unable to look at the sun, you then look to the choir of saints arrayed under him, shining in their lives for imitation of those who lived according to their age; this purpose God has set for our life.

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ἑκατέρᾳ τῇ ἡλικίᾳ, μᾶλλον δὲ ὑπαλλαγὴ τῶν ἰδιωμάτων, ἐν γήρᾳ μὲν τῆς δυνάμεως πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν νεαζούσης, ἐν μειρακίῳ δὲ τῆς νεότητος πρὸς τὸ κακὸν ἀπρακτούσης. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἔρωτας τῆς ἡλικίας ἐκείνης ἀναζητήσεις, μίμησαι τὸ σφοδρὸν καὶ διάπυρον τοῦ θείου τῆς σοφίας ἔρωτος, ᾧ ἐκ νηπίου συνηυξήθη καὶ μέχρι γήρως διήρκεσεν. Εἰ δὲ ἀδυνατεῖς πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁρᾶν, καθάπερ πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον οἱ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐμπαθέστεροι, σὺ δὲ ἀπόβλεψον εἰς τὸν ὑπ' αὐτῷ τεταγμένον τῶν ἁγίων χορόν, τοὺς πρὸς μίμησιν τῶν καθ' ἡλικίας γενομένων τῷ βίῳ λάμποντας· τοῦτον τέθεικε σκοπὸν ὁ θεὸς τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ ζωῇ.