3

by putting them into action, we piously complete a life according to virtue; but by corrupting their action, we are carried away toward evil. And this is the definition of evil: the wicked and contrary to the Lord’s commandment use of the things given to us by God for good; just as, therefore, the virtue sought by God is their use according to the Lord’s commandment from a good conscience. This being so, we will say the same also concerning love. Having, then, received the commandment to love God, we possess the power of love, implanted along with our very first constitution; and the proof is not from without, but one might learn this from himself and in himself. For we are by nature desirous of beautiful things, even if what seems beautiful to one person is different for another; and we have an untaught affection for what is our own and akin to us, and we voluntarily show all goodwill to our benefactors. What then is more wondrous than divine beauty? What thought is more graceful than the magnificence of God? What longing of the soul is so sharp and unbearable as that engendered by God in the soul that has been purified from all evil, and which says from a true disposition, that ‘I am wounded by love’? The flashes of divine beauty are utterly ineffable and indescribable; speech does not represent it, hearing does not receive it. Even if you speak of the rays of the morning star, or the brightness of the moon, or the light of the sun, all are worthless for a likeness of the glory, and fall shorter in comparison to the true light than a deep night and gloomy darkness at clearest midday. This beauty, unseen by fleshly eyes, but comprehensible only by the soul and the mind, whenever it has shone around any of the saints, has left in them an unbearable goad of longing, who, distressed by this life here, would say: ‘Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged.’ ‘When shall I come and appear before the face of God?’ and that, ‘To depart and be with Christ is far better’; and that, ‘My soul has thirsted for God, the mighty, the living’; and, ‘Now you are letting 31.912 your servant depart, O Lord.’ Burdened by this life as by a prison, so unrestrainable were the impulses of those whose souls the divine longing had seized. They, indeed, because of their insatiable desire for the contemplation of the divine beauty, prayed that the contemplation of the delight of the Lord might be extended throughout all eternal life. So, then, men are by nature desirous of beautiful things. But what is properly beautiful and lovable is the good. And God is good; and all things desire the good; therefore all things desire God. So that which is achieved by choice also exists in us by nature, at least for those whose reasonings have not been perverted by wickedness. We are therefore required to pay the necessary debt of love for God, the lack of which for the soul is the most unbearable of all evils. For alienation and aversion from God is more unbearable even than the expected punishments in Gehenna, and heavier for the one who suffers it, as is the deprivation of light to the eye, even if no pain is present, and of life to a living creature. And if a natural affection for parents exists on the part of their offspring, and this is shown both by the behavior of irrational animals, and by the disposition of human beings in their earliest age towards their mothers, let us not appear more irrational than infants, nor wilder than beasts, by being disposed without affection and estranged toward the one who made us; whom, even if we did not know what he is like from his goodness, from the mere fact of having been made by him we ought to love and cherish exceedingly, and to hang upon his memory continually, just as infants do upon their mothers. But the benefactor is better than those who are naturally loved. And this is a characteristic not of men only, but it is also an affection of almost all living creatures, this attachment to those who have given them something good. ‘The ox,’ he says, ‘knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger.’ But may what follows not be said of us: that ‘Israel did not know me, and the people did not understand me.’ For concerning the dog, and many other such animals, what need is there even to say how much

3

ἐνεργοῦντες, τὸν κατ' ἀρετὴν εὐ σεβῶς συμπληροῦμεν βίον· παραφθείροντες δὲ αὐτῶν τὴν ἐνέργειαν, πρὸς τὴν κακίαν ὑποφερόμεθα. Καὶ ἔστιν οὗτος κακίας ὅρος, ἡ πονηρὰ, καὶ παρ' ἐντολὴν τοῦ Κυρίου χρῆσις τῶν ἐπ' ἀγαθῷ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ δεδομένων ἡμῖν· ὥσπερ οὖν, τῆς παρὰ Θεοῦ ἐπιζητουμένης ἀρετῆς, ἡ ἐξ ἀγαθοῦ τοῦ συνειδότος κατ' ἐντολὴν τοῦ Κυρίου χρῆσις αὐτῶν. Τούτου δὲ οὕτως ἔχοντος, τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ περὶ τῆς ἀγάπης ἐροῦμεν. Ἐντολὴν τοίνυν λαβόντες ἀγαπᾷν τὸν Θεὸν, τὴν ἀγαπητικὴν δύναμιν εὐθὺς τῇ πρώτῃ κατασκευῇ συγκαταβληθεῖσαν κεκτήμεθα· καὶ ἡ ἀπόδειξις οὐκ ἔξωθεν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἄν τις τοῦτο παρ' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ καταμάθοι. Τῶν τε γὰρ καλῶν ἐσμεν ἐπιθυ μητικοὶ φυσικῶς, εἰ καὶ ὅτι μάλιστα ἄλλῳ ἄλλο φαίνεται καλόν· καὶ στοργὴν πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον καὶ συγγενὲς ἔχομεν ἀδιδάκτως, καὶ τοῖς εὐεργέταις ἑκουσίως πᾶσαν εὔνοιαν ἐκπληροῦμεν. Τί οὖν κάλλους θείου θαυμασιώτερον; Τίς ἔννοια τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ μεγαλοπρεπείας χαριεστέρα; Ποῖος πόθος ψυ χῆς οὕτω δριμὺς καὶ ἀφόρητος, ὡς ὁ ἀπὸ Θεοῦ ἐγγι νόμενος τῇ ἀπὸ πάσης κακίας κεκαθαρμένῃ ψυχῇ, καὶ ἀπὸ ἀληθινῆς διαθέσεως λεγούσῃ, ὅτι Τετρωμένη ἀγάπης ἐγώ εἰμι; Ἄῤῥητοι παντελῶς καὶ ἀνεκδι ήγητοι τοῦ θείου κάλλους αἱ ἀστραπαί· οὐ παρίστησι λόγος, οὐ δέχεται ἀκοή. Κἂν ἑωσφόρου αὐγὰς εἴπῃς, κἂν σελήνης λαμπρότητα, κἂν ἡλίου φῶς, πάντα ἄτιμα πρὸς εἰκασίαν τῆς δόξης, καὶ πλέον ἀπολειπό μενα πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτὸς σύγκρισιν, ἢ καθόσον βαθεῖα νὺξ, καὶ στυγνὴ σκοτομήνη μεσ ημβρίας καθαρωτάτης. Τοῦτο τὸ κάλλος σαρκίνοις μὲν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἀθεώρητον, ψυχῇ δὲ μόνῃ καὶ διανοίᾳ καταληπτὸν, εἴπου τινα περιέλαμψε τῶν ἁγίων, καὶ ἀφόρητον τοῦ πόθου τὸ κέντρον αὐτοῖς ἐγκατ έλιπεν, οἳ ἀλύοντες πρὸς τὴν ἐνταῦθα ζωὴν ἔλεγον· Οἵ μοι, ὅτι ἡ παροικία μου ἐμακρύνθη. Πότε ἥξω καὶ ὀφθήσομαι τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ; καὶ τὸ, Ἀναλῦσαι καὶ σὺν Χριστῷ εἶναι πολλῷ μᾶλλον κρεῖσσον· καὶ τὸ, Ἐδίψησεν ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἰσχυρὸν τὸν ζῶντα· καὶ, Νῦν ἀπο 31.912 λύεις τὸν δοῦλόν σου, ∆έσποτα. Ὡς δεσμωτήριον τὴν ζωὴν ταύτην βαρυνόμενοι, οὕτω δυσκάθεκτοι ἦσαν ταῖς ὁρμαῖς, ὧν ὁ θεῖος πόθος τῶν ψυχῶν ἥψατο. Οἵ γε, διὰ τὸ ἀκορέστως ἔχειν τῆς θεωρίας τοῦ θείου κάλλους, εὐχὴν ἐποιοῦντο πάσῃ τῇ αἰωνίᾳ ζωῇ συμπαρεκτείνεσθαι τὴν θεωρίαν τῆς τερπνότη τος τοῦ Κυρίου. Οὕτω μὲν οὖν φυσικῶς ἐπιθυμητι κοὶ τῶν καλῶν οἱ ἄνθρωποι. Κυρίως δὲ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαπητὸν τὸ ἀγαθόν. Ἀγαθὸς δὲ ὁ Θεός· ἀγαθοῦ δὲ πάντα ἐφίεται· Θεοῦ ἄρα πάντα ἐφίεται. Ὥστε τὸ ἐκ προαιρέσεως κατορθούμενον καὶ φυσικῶς ἡμῖν ἐνυπάρχει, τοῖς γε μὴ ἐκ πονηρίας τοὺς λογισμοὺς διαστραφεῖσιν. Ἀναγκαῖον οὖν ὄφλημα τὴν εἰς Θεὸν ἀγάπην ἀπαιτούμεθα, ὃ τῇ ἐλλειπούσῃ ψυχῇ πάντων κακῶν ἐστιν ἀφορητότα τον. Θεοῦ γὰρ ἀλλοτρίωσις καὶ ἀποστροφὴ καὶ τῶν ἐν γεέννῃ προσδοκωμένων κολάσεων ἀφορητότερόν ἐστι, καὶ βαρύτερον τῷ παθόντι, ὡς ὀφθαλμῷ φωτὸς στέρησις, κἂν μὴ ὀδύνη προσῇ, καὶ τῷ ζώῳ τοῦ ζῇν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τοῖς γεννήσασι φυσικὴ στοργὴ παρὰ τῶν γεννηθέντων ὑπάρχει, καὶ δηλοῖ τοῦτό τε ἡ τῶν ἀλόγων σχέσις, καὶ ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων παρὰ τὴν πρώτην ἡλικίαν πρὸς τὰς μητέρας διάθεσις, μὴ φανῶμεν ἀλογώτεροι τῶν νηπίων, μηδὲ τῶν θηρίων ἀγριώτεροι, ἀστόργως καὶ ἀλλοτρίως πρὸς τὸν ποιή σαντα ἡμᾶς διακείμενοι· ὃν εἰ καὶ μὴ ἐκ τῆς ἀγα θότητος ὁποῖός ἐστιν ἠπιστάμεθα, ἐξ αὐτοῦ μό νου τοῦ παρ' αὐτοῦ γεγενῆσθαι ἀγαπᾷν καὶ στέργειν ὑπερβαλλόντως ὀφείλομεν, καὶ ἀποκρέμασθαι τῆς μνήμης αὐτοῦ διηνεκῶς, καθάπερ τῶν μητέρων τὰ νήπια. Κρείττων δὲ τῶν φυσικῶς ἀγαπωμένων ὁ εὐεργέτης. Καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀνθρώπων ἴδιόν ἐστι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντων σχεδὸν ζώων πάθος, ἡ πρὸς τοὺς ἀγαθόν τι δεδωκότας οἰκείωσις. Ἔγνω, φησὶ, βοῦς τὸν κτησάμενον, καὶ ὄνος τὴν φάτνην τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ. Ἀπείη δὲ λεχθῆναι περὶ ἡμῶν τὰ ἑξῆς· ὅτι Ἰσραὴλ δέ με οὐκ ἔγνω, καὶ ὁ λαός με οὐ συνῆκε. Περὶ γὰρ κυνὸς, καὶ πολλῶν ἄλλων τοιούτων, τί χρὴ καὶ λέγειν, ὅσην