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will pay the penalty for unjust luxury. Let us not, therefore, judge God's providence from present things alone, but also from things to come. For the present things are a contest and a wrestling ground and a stadium, but the future things are prizes and crowns and rewards. Just as, therefore, the athlete must fight in the wrestling ground with sweat and dust and much heat and labors and hardships, so also must the just man here endure many things and bear all things nobly, if he is to receive glorious crowns there. But if the prosperity of the wicked disturbs some, let them consider this again in their case, that, just as robbers and tomb-robbers and murderers and pirates who sail the sea, before they enter the court, enjoy much luxury, making the misfortunes of others their own abundance, and acquiring unjust wealth, and being drunk every day; but when they come under the judge's verdicts, they pay the penalty for all those things; so also these who buy prostitutes, and set out Sybaritic tables, and raise their eyebrows, and strut in the marketplace, and tear apart the poor, when the only-begotten Son of God comes with his angels, and sits on that tribunal, and brings the whole world into the midst, will be brought in naked and stripped of all pomp, having no advocate nor protector, they will be carried away without any pardon to the rivers of fire. Do not, therefore, call these men blessed for their 50.420 luxury here, but weep for their future punishment; nor deem the just man wretched for his poverty here, but call him blessed for his future wealth of good things, and root the doctrine of the resurrection in your own mind, so that, if you are good and are tempted, you may become more approved, gaining greater zeal from the hopes to come; and if you are evil, you may depart from wickedness, making yourself more temperate through the fear of the coming retribution. 2. For this reason Paul also continually raises for us the subject of the resurrection, just as you have heard him today crying out and saying: For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. But rather, let us take the discourse higher, and see from where he came to the subject of the resurrection. For he does not continually raise this teaching simply, nor at random; but desiring both to teach the things to come, and wishing to strengthen the athletes of piety. For now indeed, by the grace of God, we enjoy much peace; for kings live in piety, and rulers have recognized the truth, and peoples and cities and nations, being freed from error, all worship Christ; but then at the beginning of the preaching, when the seeds of piety were just being sown, the war was great and various and diverse. For rulers and kings and household members and relatives and everyone made war on the faithful, and the war was waged even through nature itself. For a father often handed over his child, and a mother her daughter, and a master his servant. For not only cities, nor countries, but often even households fought among themselves; and the tumult that then prevailed was more grievous than any civil war. For possessions were seized, and freedom was betrayed, and danger hung over life itself, not from barbarians overrunning and insulting, but from those who seemed to preside and rule, treating their subjects more harshly than any enemies. And Paul, indicating this, said that You endured a great conflict of sufferings; on the one hand, with reproaches and

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ἀδίκου τρυφῆς δώσει τὴν δίκην. Μὴ τοίνυν ἀπὸ τῶν παρόντων μόνον περὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ψηφισώμεθα προνοίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν μελλόντων. Τὰ γὰρ παρόντα ἀγών ἐστι καὶ σκάμματα καὶ στάδιον, τὰ δὲ μέλλοντα ἔπαθλα καὶ στέφανοι καὶ βραβεῖα. Ὥσπερ οὖν τὸν ἀθλητὴν, ἐν τῷ σκάμματι καὶ ἱδρῶτι καὶ κόνει καὶ θέρμῃ πολλῇ καὶ πόνοις καὶ ταλαιπωρίαις μάχεσθαι δεῖ, οὕτω καὶ τὸν δίκαιον ἐνταῦθα πολλὰ ὑπομένειν χρὴ καὶ φέρειν ἅπαντα γενναίως, εἴ γε μέλλοι λαμπροὺς ἀπολήψεσθαι τοὺς στεφάνους ἐκεῖ. Εἰ δὲ αἱ τῶν πονηρῶν εὐημερίαι θορυβοῦσί τινας, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτων ἐκεῖνο λογιζέσθωσαν πάλιν, ὅτι, καθάπερ λῃσταὶ καὶ τυμβωρύχοι καὶ ἀνδροφόνοι καὶ οἱ τὴν θάλασσαν πλέοντες πειραταὶ, πρὶν ἢ εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον εἰσελθεῖν, πολλῆς ἀπολαύουσι τρυφῆς, οἰκείαν εὐπορίαν τὰς ἀλλοτρίας ποιούμενοι συμφορὰς, καὶ τὸν ἄδικον κτώμενοι πλοῦτον, καὶ καθ' ἑκάστην μεθύοντες τὴν ἡμέραν· ἐπειδὰν δὲ ὑπὸ ταῖς τοῦ δικαστοῦ γένωνται ψήφοις, πάντων ἐκείνων διδόασι δίκην· οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι οἱ πόρνας ἀγοράζοντες, καὶ τὰς Συβαριτικὰς παρατιθέμενοι τραπέζας, καὶ τὰς ὀφρῦς ἀνασπῶντες, καὶ σοβοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, καὶ τοὺς πένητας σπαράττοντες, ὅταν ὁ μονογενὴς Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ παραγένηται μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων τῶν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ βήματος ἐκείνου καθίσῃ, καὶ τὴν οἰκουμένην εἰς μέσον παραγάγῃ, γυμνοὶ καὶ πάσης ἔρημοι τῆς φαντασίας εἰσενεχθέντες, καὶ οὐδένα συνήγορον οὐδὲ προστάτην ἔχοντες, χωρὶς συγγνώμης ἁπάσης εἰς τοὺς τοῦ πυρὸς ἀπενεχθήσονται ποταμούς. Μὴ τοίνυν μήτε τούτους μακαρίσῃς διὰ τὴν 50.420 ἐνταῦθα τρυφὴν, ἀλλὰ δάκρυσον διὰ τὴν μέλλουσαν τιμωρίαν· μηδὲ τὸν δίκαιον ταλανίσῃς διὰ τὴν ἐνταῦθα πενίαν, ἀλλὰ μακάρισον διὰ τὸν μέλλοντα τῶν ἀγαθῶν πλοῦτον, καὶ τὸν περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως λόγον ἐν τῇ σαυτοῦ διανοίᾳ ῥίζωσον, ἵνα, κἂν ἀγαθὸς ᾖς καὶ πειράζῃ, δοκιμώτερος γίνῃ, ταῖς μελλούσαις ἐλπίσι προθυμίαν μείζονα προσλαμβάνων· κἂν κακὸς ᾖς, ἀποστῇς τῆς πονηρίας, τῷ φόβῳ τῆς μελλούσης κολάσεως σωφρονέστερον σεαυτὸν κατασκευάζων. βʹ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Παῦλος συνεχῶς ἡμῖν τὸν περὶ ἀναστάσεως κινεῖ λόγον, καθάπερ οὖν καὶ σήμερον ἠκούσατε αὐτοῦ βοῶντος καὶ λέγοντος· Οἴδαμεν γὰρ, ὅτι ἐὰν ἡ ἐπίγειος ἡμῶν οἰκία τοῦ σκήνους καταλυθῇ, οἰκίαν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἔχομεν ἀχειροποίητον, αἰώνιον, ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Μᾶλλον δὲ ἀνωτέρω τὸν λόγον ἀγάγωμεν, καὶ ἴδωμεν πόθεν ἐνέπεσεν εἰς τὸν περὶ ἀναστάσεως λόγον. Οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς, οὐδὲ ὡς ἔτυχε, ταύτην συνεχῶς κινεῖ τὴν διδασκαλίαν· ἀλλ' ὁμοῦ τε διδάξαι βουλόμενος τὰ μέλλοντα, καὶ τοὺς ἀθλητὰς τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐπιῤῥῶσαι θέλων. Νῦν μὲν γὰρ διὰ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν πολλῆς ἀπολαύομεν τῆς εἰρήνης· καὶ γὰρ βασιλεῖς ἐν εὐσεβείᾳ ζῶσι, καὶ ἄρχοντες τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐπέγνωσαν, καὶ δῆμοι καὶ πόλεις καὶ ἔθνη τῆς πλάνης ἀπαλλαγέντες, τὸν Χριστὸν ἅπαντες προσκυνοῦσι· τότε δὲ ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ κηρύγματος, ἄρτι τῶν σπερμάτων τῆς εὐσεβείας καταβαλλομένων, πολὺς ὁ πόλεμος καὶ διάφορος καὶ ποικίλος. Καὶ γὰρ ἄρχοντες καὶ βασιλεῖς καὶ οἰκεῖοι καὶ συγγενεῖς καὶ πάντες τοῖς πιστοῖς ἐπολέμουν, καὶ διὰ τῆς φύσεως αὐτῆς ὁ πόλεμος ᾔρετο. Καὶ γὰρ πατὴρ τέκνον παρέδωκε πολλάκις, καὶ θυγατέρα μήτηρ, καὶ οἰκέτην δεσπότης. Οὐδὲ γὰρ αἱ πόλεις μόνον, οὐδὲ αἱ χῶραι, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἰκίαι πολλάκις καθ' ἑαυτὰς ἐμάχοντο· καὶ παντὸς ἐμφυλίου πολέμου χαλεπώτερος ἦν ὁ τότε κατέχων θόρυβος. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ χρήματα ἀνηρπάζετο, καὶ ἐλευθερία προεδίδοτο, καὶ περὶ αὐτῆς τῆς ζωῆς ὁ κίνδυνος ἐπεκρέματο, οὐχὶ βαρβάρων ἐπιτρεχόντων καὶ ἐπηρεαζόντων, ἀλλ' αὐτῶν τῶν δοκούντων προεστάναι καὶ ἄρχειν, πολεμίων ἁπάντων χαλεπώτερον τοὺς ἀρχομένους διατιθέντων. Καὶ τοῦτο δηλῶν ὁ Παῦλος ἔλεγεν, ὅτι Πολλὴν ἄθλησιν ὑπεμείνατε παθημάτων· τοῦτο μὲν, ὀνειδισμοῖς τε