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and of how much joy, not having acquired love! Not wishing to acquire this, Judas went out from the midst of the choir of the apostles, having left the true light, having hated his own teacher and his own brothers, he went into the darkness. Therefore also Peter, the chief, said: Judas transgressed to go to his own place. 62.772 And again John the Theologian says: He who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. But if you should say, "Even if I do not love my brother, yet I love God," John convicts you, saying: If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen? Therefore, he who has love with all the brothers, who has no enmity against anyone, who fulfills the word of the Apostle, "Let not the sun go down on your anger," this man loves God, this man is his disciple, of him who said that "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

It is clear, therefore, that the disciples of Christ are known from there, from true love. But he who has hatred against his brother, even if he seems to love Christ, is a liar and deceives himself. For the apostle John says that This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also; and again the Lord, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself; and he added, wishing to show the power of love, saying: On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. O extraordinary wonder, that he who has unfeigned love fulfills the whole law. For love is the fulfillment of the law, as the Apostle says. O incomparable power of love! O immeasurable power of love! nothing is more precious than love, neither in heaven nor on earth. For this reason Paul the Apostle, having learned that nothing is equivalent to love, wrote and sent to the ends of the inhabited world, saying: Brothers, owe nothing, except to love one another, and to lay down your souls for one another. For this is love, the chief of all virtues, the salt of the virtues; love the fulfillment of the law, love the unerring salvation. This from the beginning was victorious in the heart of Abel, this became the helmsman of Noah, this assisted the patriarchs, this saved Moses, this made David a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, this tabernacled in the prophets, this strengthened Job; and why do I not say the greater things? this brought down the Son of God from the heavens to us. Through love the fleshless is incarnate, the beginningless begins, the Son of God becomes the son of man; through love all things pertaining to salvation are administered; death is abolished, the devil is cast down, Adam is recalled, Eve is set free; through love one flock of angels and men has come to be; through love the curse is loosed, paradise is opened, life is revealed, the kingdom of heaven is proclaimed.

This, having caught the fishers of fish in a net, made them fishers of men, this contended with and strengthened the martyrs, this revealed the deserts as cities, this filled the mountains and the caves with psalmody, this made angels and men one, both men and women to walk the narrow and afflicted way. But until when ... to pursue the incomprehensible.

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καὶ πόσης χαρᾶς, μὴ κτησάμενοι τὴν ἀγάπην! Ταύτην Ἰούδας μὴ θελήσας κτήσασθαι, ἐκ μέσου τοῦ χοροῦ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐξῆλθε, καταλιπὼν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν, τὸν ἑαυτοῦ διδάσκαλον καὶ τοὺς ἰδίους ἀδελφοὺς μισήσας ἐν τῷ σκότει ἐπορεύθη. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ κορυφαῖος Πέτρος ἔλεγε· Παρέβη Ἰούδας πορευθῆναι εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν ἴδιον. 62.772 Καὶ πάλιν Ἰωάννης ὁ θεολόγος λέγει· Ὁ μισῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὑτοῦ, ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ ἐστι, καὶ ἐν τῷ σκότει περιπατεῖ, καὶ οὐκ οἶδε ποῦ ὑπάγει, ὅτι ἡ σκοτία ἐτύφλωσε τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ. Ἐὰν δὲ εἴπῃς, ὅτι Κἂν τὸν ἀδελφόν μου οὐκ ἀγαπῶ, ἀλλὰ τὸν Θεὸν ἀγαπῶ, ἐλέγχει σε Ἰωάννης λέγων· Ἐάν τις εἴπῃ, Τὸν Θεὸν ἀγαπῶ, καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὑτοῦ μισεῖ, ψεύστης ἐστίν. Ὁ γὰρ μὴ ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὑτοῦ, ὃν ἑώρακε, τὸν Θεὸν, ὃν οὐχ ἑώρακε, πῶς δύναται ἀγαπᾷν; Ὁ οὖν ἔχων μετὰ πάντων τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἀγάπην, ὁ μὴ ἔχων ἔχθραν κατά τινος, ὁ πληρῶν τὸν λόγον τοῦ Ἀποστόλου, Ὁ ἥλιος μὴ ἐπιδυέτω ἐπὶ τὸν παροργισμὸν ὑμῶν, οὗτος ἀγαπᾷ τὸν Θεὸν, οὗτος μαθητὴς αὐτοῦ ἐστι, τοῦ εἰπόντος, ὅτι Ἐν τούτῳ γνώσονται πάντες ὅτι ἐμοῦ μαθηταί ἐστε, ἐὰν ἀγάπην ἔχητε μετ' ἀλλήλων.

Φανερὸν οὖν ἐστιν, ὅτι οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μαθηταὶ ἐκεῖθεν γνωρίζονται ἐκ τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἀγάπης. Ὁ δὲ ἔχων μῖσος κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ, κἂν δοκῇ ἀγαπᾷν τὸν Χριστὸν, ψεύστης ἐστὶ καὶ φρεναπατᾷ ἑαυτόν. Λέγει γὰρ ὁ ἀπόστολος Ἰωάννης, ὅτι Ταύτην ἐντολὴν ἔχομεν παρ' αὐτοῦ, ἵνα ὁ ἀγαπῶν τὸν Θεὸν, ἀγαπᾷ καὶ τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὑτοῦ· καὶ πάλιν ὁ Κύριος, Ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου, καὶ τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς ἑαυτόν· καὶ ἐπήγαγε, θέλων δεῖξαι τὴν δύναμιν τῆς ἀγάπης, λέγων· Ἐν ταύταις ταῖς δυσὶν ἐντολαῖς ὅλος ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται κρέμανται. Ὢ θαῦμα ἐξαίσιον, ὅτι ὁ ἔχων τὴν ἀνυπόκριτον ἀγάπην, ὅλον τὸν νόμον πληροῖ. Πλήρωμα γὰρ νόμου ἡ ἀγάπη, ὥς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος. Ὢ δύναμις ἀγάπης ἀνείκαστος! ὢ δύναμις ἀγάπης ἀμέτρητος! οὐδὲν τῆς ἀγάπης τιμιώτερον, οὔτε ἐν οὐρανῷ, οὔτε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο Παῦλος ὁ Ἀπόστολος μαθὼν ὅτι οὐδὲν τῆς ἀγάπης ἀντάξιον, ἔγραψε καὶ ἀπέστειλεν εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης, λέγων· Ἀδελφοὶ, μηδὲν ὀφείλετε, εἰ μὴ τὸ ἀλλήλους ἀγαπᾷν, καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς ὑπὲρ ἀλλήλων τιθέναι. Αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἀγάπη πάντων τῶν ἀρετῶν τὸ κεφάλαιον, τὸ ἅλας τῶν ἀρετῶν· ἡ ἀγάπη τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ νόμου, ἡ ἀγάπη ἡ ἀπλανὴς σωτηρία. Αὕτη ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐνίκησεν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τοῦ Ἄβελ, αὕτη τοῦ Νῶε κυβερνήτης γέγονεν, αὕτη τοὺς πατριάρχας συνήργησεν, αὕτη τὸν Μωϋσέα διέσωσεν, αὕτη τὸν ∆αυῒδ οἰκητήριον τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐποίησεν, αὕτη ἐν τοῖς προφήταις κατεσκήνωσεν, αὕτη τὸν Ἰὼβ ἐνίσχυσε· καὶ τί οὐ λέγω τὰ μείζονα; αὕτη τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν πρὸς ἡμᾶς κατήγαγε. ∆ιὰ τῆς ἀγάπης ὁ ἄσαρκος σαρκοῦται, ὁ ἄναρχος ἄρχεται, ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου γίνεται· διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης πάντα τὰ πρὸς σωτηρίαν οἰκονομεῖται· ὁ θάνατος κατήργηται, ὁ διάβολος κατεβλήθη, ὁ Ἀδὰμ ἀνακέκληται, ἡ Εὔα ἠλευθέρωται· διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης μία ποίμνη γέγονεν ἀγγέλων καὶ ἀνθρώπων διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης ἡ κατάρα λέλυται, ὁ παράδεισος ἠνέῳκται, ἡ ζωὴ πεφανέρωται, ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐπήγγελται.

Αὕτη τοὺς ἁλιεῖς τῶν ἰχθύων σαγηνεύσασα, ἁλιεῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐποίησεν, αὕτη τοὺς μάρτυρας συνήθλησε καὶ ἐνίσχυσεν, αὕτη τὰς ἐρήμους πολίτας ἀνέδειξεν, αὕτη τὰ ὄρη καὶ τὰ σπήλαια ψαλμῳδίας ἐπλήρωσεν, αὕτη τοὺς ἀγγέλους καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἓν ἀπειργάσατο, ἄνδρας τε καὶ γυναῖκας τὴν στενὴν καὶ τεθλιμμένην βαδίζειν ὁδόν. Ἀλλὰ μέχρι τίνος ὑστ** διώκειν τὸν ἀκατάληπτον.