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should overtake her, when, wailing and with disheveled hair, she runs one way and then another, whether delicate, or barefoot, even if rivers meet her, the earnestness of her grief overlooks these things, when, tearing her locks of hair, she beats her own breast, when she clasps her fingers and puts them around her knees and falls to the ground, when her breath fails as she weeps and the light of her eyes opens, when she curses the day and measures the dust upon her head, when, having defiled with ashes from the hearth her head that was crowned and sprinkled with fruits and lilies, she sprinkles it all over. 3.52 And she will blame herself, when mourning succeeds the bridal gown. 3.53 And perhaps to her grief a second grief will be betrothed, for the sake of a second marriage. 3.54 And even if this should pass, the troubled and much-groaning spirit of widowhood will be enough and more than enough for her. 3.55 Then, the wretched one, having completed all things, or rather, being completed before all things, departs from this life, which is full of many pains. 3.56 And there perhaps other pains and second groanings will meet her; when she sees holy virgins clothed in garments of incorruption, holding with their hands the psalter inscribed in their hearts, singing the victory hymn of virginity, wearing crowns of incorruption on their temples, in place of the human groaning they left here below, dancing before Christ, with delight becoming joy among the angels. 3.57 When Christ the bridegroom shows his affection, when she groans with a groan, then again she will blame herself, then she will repent of many things and her repentance will be useless. 4.58 But let them not only persuade the female sex to be pure, but also let the men not be slow to be persuaded to sanctify their own bodies, thus chanting from the divine scriptures this: Blessed is the man whose hope is the name of the Lord, and this: Blessed are the undefiled, and this: The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, and this: Blessed are the continent, for God will speak to them, and that: corruption will not inherit incorruption, and that: he who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life, and that: those who are in the flesh cannot please God, and that: it is seemly and that: it is for devoted service to the Lord without distraction, and that: it is good for a man to be so, and that which was said by the Lord to the prophet Jeremiah, that: You shall not take a wife, and you shall not have a son or daughter in this place, and that which was said in the prophet Isaiah by the Lord, saying that: Let not the eunuch say, ‘I am a dry tree.’ For thus, he says, says the Lord to the eunuchs: Whoever shall choose what I desire for the purpose of keeping their hands from doing wrong, and not think evil things against the Lord, I will give them, he says, in my house a named place and within my wall better than sons and daughters, these things and those in the gospels proclaimed again by the Lord himself, that: there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. 4.59 For the most part, then, let the soul of the young man be strengthened from the holy scriptures.

4.60 But if also by recounting to them the hardships of marriage for the turning away from the passions of the flesh, thus the temporary and raging desire of the flesh, which passes away like a flower of the grass, they will, having wrestled it down with heavenly desire, extinguish the bitterness of its sweetness, having conquered with sober reasoning. 5.61 Thus, then, let a father converse with a son as if softening the vigor of the youth; then if you see his faith unbroken, his form not shaken or soft or blossoming licentiously for the flesh in a disorderly way, but his faith working through the divine fear, imitate the patriarch, become a new Abraham offering the new Isaac; leave the donkey and the young servants, that is, the temporary work of this world, and place upon him the wood, that is, the cross. 5.62 According to the image

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προλάβῃ, ὅταν πενθήφωνος καὶ λυσίκομος ἄλλην καὶ ἄλλην ὁδὸν τρέχῃ, κἂν τρυφερά, κἂν ἀνυπόδετος, κἂν ποταμοὶ συναν τήσωσιν, ἡ σπουδὴ τοῦ πένθους ταῦτα παρορᾷ, ὅταν ἕλκουσα τοὺς βό στρυχας τύπτῃ τὸ ἑαυτῆς στῆθος, ὅταν πλέξῃ δακτύλους καὶ περιθῇ τοῖς γόνασι καὶ πέσῃ εἰς τὸ ἔδαφος, ὅταν τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτῆς κλαιούσης διαλείψῃ καὶ τὸ φῶς τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν διανοιγῇ, ὅταν τὴν ἡμέραν ἀράσηται καὶ τὴν κόνιν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς μετρήσῃ, ὅταν τὴν στεφθεῖσαν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς τοῖς ἀκροδρύοις καὶ τοῖς κρίνοις ῥανθεῖσαν, τῇ ἐκ τῆς ἑστίας τέφρᾳ μολύνασα καταπάσῃ. 3.52 Καὶ μέμψεται ἑαυτήν, ὅταν τὴν νυμφικὴν στολὴν πενθήρης διαδέ ξηται. 3.53 Καὶ τάχα τῷ πένθει αὐτῆς δεύτερον πένθος μνηστευθήσεται, δευτερογαμίας χάριν. 3.54 Κἂν τοῦτο παρέλθῃ, ἀρκέσει αὐτῇ καὶ περισσεύσει τὸ θολερὸν καὶ πολυστένακτον τῆς χηρείας πνεῦμα. 3.55 Εἶτα πάντα τελέσασα ἡ ἀθλία, μᾶλλον δὲ προπάντων τελεσθεῖσα, ἀπέρχεται τοῦ τῇδε βίου πολυωδύνου ὄντος. 3.56 Κἀκεῖ αὐτῇ συναντήσουσι τάχα ἄλλαι ὀδύναι καὶ δεύτεροι στεναγ μοί· ὅταν ἴδῃ παρθένους ἁγίας ἐνδεδυμένας ἐνδύματα ἀφθαρσίας, κρατοῦσας μετὰ χεῖρας τὸ ψαλτήριον ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἐγγεγραμμένον, τὸν ἐπινίκιον ὕμνον ᾀδούσας τῆς παρθενίας, στέμματα τοῖς κροτάφοις ἀφθαρσίας φορούσας, ἀνθ' ὧν κατέλιπον τὸν ὧδε ἀνθρώπινον στεναγμόν, ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Χριστοῦ χορεύουσαι ὑπὸ ἀγγέλων ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ τέρψιν γινομένην. 3.57 Ὅταν Χρι στὸς ὁ νυμφίος τὴν στοργὴν ἐνδείξηται, ὅταν στεναγμῷ στενάξῃ, τότε πάλιν μέμψεται ἑαυτήν, τότε πολλὰ μεταμεληθήσεται καὶ ἀνωφελὴς ἡ μετάνοια αὐτῆς ἔσται. 4.58 Ἀλλὰ μὴ μόνον τὸ τῶν θηλείων γένος πειθέτωσαν ἁγνεύειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες μὴ ῥᾳθυμείτωσαν πείθεσθαι πρὸς τὸ ἁγιάζειν τὰ ἑαυτῶν σώματα, οὕτως ἐκ τῶν θείων γραφῶν παραψάλλοντες τό· Μακάριος ἀνὴρ οὗ ἐστι τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου ἐλπὶς αὐτοῦ, καὶ τό· Μακάριοι οἱ ἄμωμοι, καὶ τό· Ὁ ἄγαμος μεριμνᾷ τὰ τοῦ κυρίου, καὶ τό· Μακάριοι οἱ ἐγκρατεῖς, ὅτι αὐτοῖς λαλήσει ὁ θεός, καὶ ὅτι· ἡ φθορὰ οὐ κληρονομήσει τὴν ἀφθαρ σίαν, καὶ ὅτι· ὁ σπείρων εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα θερίσει ζωὴν αἰώνιον, καὶ ὅτι· οἱ ἐν σαρκὶ ὄντες θεῷ ἀρέσαι οὐ δύνανται, καὶ ὅτι· εὔσχημον καὶ ὅτι· εὐπάρεδρον τῷ κυρίῳ ἀπερισπάστως, καὶ ὅτι· καλὸν τὸ οὕτως εἶναι ἀνθρώπῳ, καὶ τὸ τῷ προφήτῃ Ἱερεμίᾳ ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου λεχθέν, ὅτι· μὴ λάβῃς γυναῖκα καὶ οὐ γεννηθήσεταί σοι υἱὸς οὐδὲ θυγάτηρ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ, καὶ τὸ ἐν τῷ προ φήτῃ Ἡσαΐᾳ λεχθὲν ὑπὸ κυρίου λέγοντος, ὅτι· μὴ λεγέτω ὁ εὐ νοῦχος, ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ξύλον ξηρόν. Τάδε γάρ, φησι, λέγει κύριος τοῖς εὐνούχοις· ὅσοι ἐὰν ἐκλέξων ται ἃ ἐγὼ θέλω εἰς τὸ διαφυλάσσειν τὰς χεῖρας ἑαυτῶν μὴ ποιεῖν ἄδικον, καὶ μὴ ἐνθυμηθῶσι κατὰ τοῦ κυρίου πονηρά, καὶ δώσω, φησίν, αὐτοῖς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ μου τόπον ὀνο μαστὸν καὶ ἐν τῷ τειχισμῷ κρεῖσσον υἱῶν καὶ θυγατέρων, ταῦτα καὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πάλιν τοῦ κυρίου βοώμενα, ὅτι· εἰσιν εὐνοῦχοι οἵτινες εὐνού χισαν ἑαυτοὺς διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. 4.59 Τὸ πλεῖον γοῦν ἐκ τῶν ἁγίων γραφῶν στηριζέσθω τοῦ νέου παιδὸς ἡ ψυχή.

4.60 Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὰς τοῦ γάμου κακοπαθείας διηγούμενοι πρὸς αὐτοὺς πρὸς ἀποτροπὴν τῶν τῆς σαρκὸς παθῶν, οὕτω τὸν πρόσκαιρον καὶ μαινό μενον καὶ ὡσεὶ ἄνθος χόρτου παρερχόμενον τῆς σαρκὸς πόθον τῷ ἐπου ρανίῳ πόθῳ καταπαλαίσαντας ἀποσβέσουσι τὸ τῆς γλυκύτητος πικρόν, σώφρονι λογισμῷ νικήσαντες. 5.61 Οὕτως οὖν παρομιλείτω πατὴρ υἱῷ ὡς ἐκμαλάσσων τοῦ νέου τὴν ἀκμήν· εἶτα ἐὰν ἴδῃς ἀρραγῆ τὴν πίστιν αὐτοῦ, μηδὲν κεκλονημένον ἢ μαλθακὸν ἢ τῇ σαρκὶ ἀτάκτως ἐν ἀσελγείᾳ ἐπανθοῦν τὸ σχῆμα, ἀλλ' ἐνεργοῦσαν τῷ θείῳ φόβῳ τὴν πίστιν, μιμῆσαι τὸν πατριάρχην, γενοῦ νέος Ἀβραὰμ τὸν νέον προσφέρων Ἰσαάκ· ἄφες τὴν ὄνον καὶ τὰ παιδάρια, τουτέστι τοῦ κόσμου τούτου τὴν πρόσκαιρον ἐργασίαν, ἐπίθες δὲ αὐτῷ τὰ ξύλα, τουτέστι τὸν σταυρόν. 5.62 Κατὰ τὴν εἰκόνα