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and to be freed from toils, and to stand outside the waves of life and to live in a calm harbor?

3 Tell me now: what in the world seems to you to be blessed and enviable? You will surely say power and wealth and to be esteemed by men. And what is more wretched than these things, when compared to the freedom of Christians? For the ruler of peoples is subject to wrath and to the irrational impulses of the multitude, and to the fear of greater rulers, and to the cares for his subjects, and he who was a ruler yesterday is a private citizen today; for this present life is no different from a stage, but just as there one man fills the role of a king, another that of a ruler, and another that of a soldier, but when night falls, the king is no king, the ruler no ruler, the soldier no soldier, so also on that day, not from his appearance, but from his works will each receive his worthy reward. But is glory precious, which falls "like a flower of the grass"? but wealth for which the possessors are called wretched; "For woe," he says, "to the rich." And again; "Woe to them that trust in their might, and boast in the multitude of their riches." The Christian is never made a private citizen from being a ruler, nor poor from being rich, nor inglorious from being glorious, but remains rich when he is impoverished, and is exalted when he strives to humble himself; and of the rule which he rules not over men but has authority over principalities and the world-ruler of darkness, no one can deprive him. "Marriage is good," I agree as well. "For marriage," he says, "is honorable, and the bed undefiled: but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." But it is no longer possible for you to keep the rights of marriage. For to be joined to a heavenly bridegroom, and then to leave him and join yourself to a woman, the matter is adultery, even if you call it marriage ten thousand times; rather it is so much more terrible than adultery, as God is better than men. Let no one deceive you saying: God has not forbidden to marry. I know this too; he did not forbid to marry, but he did forbid to commit adultery; which you do, if you wish, may it never be, to ever engage in marriage. And why do you wonder, if marriage is judged as adultery, when God is set aside? Hear something not small. A murder brought about righteousness and philanthropy was condemned more than murder; because the one was according to the will of God, but the other was while God was forbidding it. Therefore to Phinehas it was reckoned for righteousness to pierce the fornicating woman with the fornicator; but Saul, the holy Samuel of God, mourning and weeping and beseeching for whole nights, was not able to deliver from the condemnation, which God brought against him, because the king of the foreigners, whom it was necessary to destroy, he saved against the will of God. If therefore philanthropy was condemned more than murder because God was disobeyed, why do you wonder if marriage brings a greater condemnation than adultery, because Christ is set aside? For as I said at the beginning; if you were a private citizen, no one would have accused you of desertion; but now you are no longer your own master, having enlisted with so great a king. For if "the wife has no authority over her own body, but the husband," how much more would they who live for Christ not be masters of their own body. He who is now despised by you is himself the judge then; consider this throughout, and the river of fire; "For a river," he says, "of fire was flowing before his face." And that; it is not possible for one delivered to that fire to expect an end of punishment. But the unseemly pleasures of life differ in no way from shadows and dreams; for before the acts of sin are completed, the things of pleasure are extinguished; but the punishments for these have no end. The pleasant is for a little while, but the painful is eternal. But what among the things in the world is secure, tell me? Wealth, which often has not remained even until evening? But glory? But hear a certain righteous man saying: "My life is swifter than a runner." For just as they leap away before they stop, so also it flies away before it arrives. Nothing is more precious than the soul; and not even those to the last degree of folly

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καὶ πόνων ἀπηλλάχθαι, ἔξω τε τῶν τοῦ βίου κυμάτων ἑστάναι καὶ ἐν εὐδίῳ διάγειν λιμένι;

3 Εἰπὲ δή μοι· τί σοι δοκεῖ τῶν ἐν κόσμῳ μακαριστὸν εἶναι καὶ ζηλωτόν; Ἀρχὴν πάντως ἐρεῖς καὶ πλοῦτον καὶ τὸ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκιμεῖν. Καὶ τί τούτων ἀθλιώτερον, ὅταν πρὸς τὴν τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἐλευθερίαν συγκρίνηται; Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἄρχων δήμων ὑπόκειται θυμῷ καὶ πλήθους ὁρμαῖς ἀλογίστοις, φόβῳ τε ἀρχόντων μειζόνων, καὶ ταῖς ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀρχομένων φροντίσιν, καὶ ὁ χθὲς ἄρχων σήμερον ἰδιώτης· σκηνῆς γὰρ οὐδὲν ὁ παρὼν διενήνοχε βίος, ἀλλὰ καθάπερ ἐκεῖ βασιλέως μὲν οὗτος, ἄρχοντος δὲ ἐκεῖνος, ἕτερος δὲ στρατιώτου τάξιν πληροῖ, τῆς δὲ νυκτὸς καταλαβούσης οὔτε ὁ βασιλεὺς βασιλεύς, οὔτε ὁ ἄρχων ἄρχων, οὔτε ὁ στρατιώτης στρατιώτης, οὕτως καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, οὐκ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων ἕκαστος λήψεται τὴν ἀξίαν ἀμοιβήν. Ἀλλὰ δόξα τίμιον, τὸ καταπῖπτον «ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου»; ἀλλὰ πλοῦτος ὃν οἱ κεκτημένοι ταλανίζονται· «Οὐαὶ γάρ, φησί, τοῖς πλουσίοις.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Οὐαὶ τοῖς πεποιθόσιν ἐπὶ τῇ δυνάμει αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ πλήθει τοῦ πλούτου αὐτῶν καυχωμένοις.» Ὁ Χριστιανὸς οὐδέποτε ἐξ ἄρχοντος ἰδιώτης γίγνεται, οὐδὲ ἀπὸ πλουσίου πένης, οὐδὲ ἄδοξος ἀπὸ ἐνδόξου, ἀλλὰ μένει πλουτῶν ὅταν πτωχεύῃ, καὶ ὑψοῦται ὅταν ταπεινοῦν ἑαυτὸν σπουδάζῃ· καὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἧς ἄρχει οὐ κατὰ ἀνθρώπων ἀλλὰ τῶν ἀρχῶν ἐξουσίαν ἔχει καὶ τοῦ κοσμοκράτορος τοῦ σκότους, οὐδεὶς αὐτὸν παραλῦσαι δύναται. «Καλὸν ὁ γάμος» σύμφημι κἀγώ. «Τίμιος γάρ, φησίν, ὁ γάμος καὶ ἡ κοίτη ἀμίαντος, πόρνους δὲ καὶ μοιχοὺς κρινεῖ ὁ θεός.» Σοὶ δὲ οὐκέτι δυνατὸν τὰ δίκαια φυλάξαι τοῦ γάμου. Τὸ γὰρ ἐπουρανίῳ συναφθέντα νυμφίῳ τοῦτον μὲν ἀφεῖναι, γυναικὶ δὲ ἑαυτὸν συνάψαι, μοιχεία τὸ πρᾶγμα, κἂν μυριάκις αὐτὸ σὺ γάμον καλῇς· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ μοιχείας τοσούτῳ δεινότερον, ὅσῳ κρείττων ἀνθρώπων θεός. Μηδείς σε ἀπατάτω λέγων· γαμεῖν οὐκ ἐκώλυσεν ὁ θεός. Οἶδα τοῦτο κἀγώ· γαμεῖν μὲν οὐκ ἐκώλυσεν, ἀλλὰ μοιχεύειν ἐκώλυσεν· ὅπερ σὺ ποιεῖς, ἐὰν θέλῃς, ὃ μὴ γένοιτο, ὁμιλῆσαι γάμῳ ποτέ. Καὶ τί θαυμάζεις, εἰ γάμος ὥσπερ μοιχεία κρίνεται, ὅταν ἀθετῆται θεός; Οὐ μικρὸν ἄκουσον. Φόνος δικαιοσύνην ἤνεγκεν καὶ φιλανθρωπία μᾶλλον φόνου κατέκρινεν· ἐπειδὴ τὸ μὲν κατὰ γνώμην, τὸ δὲ κωλύοντος ἐγένετο θεοῦ. ∆ιὸ τῷ μὲν Φινεὲς εἰς δικαιοσύνην ἐλογίσθη τὸ τὴν πορνευομένην γυναῖκα μετὰ τοῦ πορνεύοντος ἐκκεντῆσαι· τὸν δὲ Σαοὺλ ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ Θεοῦ Σαμουήλ, ὅλας νύκτας πενθῶν καὶ δακρύων καὶ παρακαλῶν, οὐκ ἐξίσχυσεν ἐξελέσθαι τῆς καταδίκης, ἧς ἐξήνεγκεν κατ' αὐτοῦ ὁ θεός, ἐπειδὴ τὸν τῶν ἀλλοφύλων βασιλέα, δέον ἀνελεῖν, ἔσωσεν παρὰ γνώμην θεοῦ. Εἰ τοίνυν φιλανθρωπία μᾶλλον φόνου κατέκρινεν διὰ τὸ παρακουσθῆναι θεόν, τί θαυμάζεις εἰ γάμος μοιχείας καταδικάζει μᾶλλον, διὰ τὸ ἀθετεθῆναι Χριστόν; Ὅπερ γὰρ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔφην· εἰ μὲν ἰδιώτης ἦσθα, οὐδείς σε ἂν λιποστρατίας ἐγράψατο· νυνὶ δὲ οὐκέτι κύριος εἶ σαυτοῦ, βασιλεῖ τηλικούτῳ στρατευσάμενος. Εἰ γὰρ «ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ ἰδίου σώματος οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει, ἀλλ' ὁ ἀνήρ», πόσῳ μᾶλλον οἱ Χριστῷ ζῶντες οὐκ ἂν εἶεν αὐτοὶ τοῦ αὑτῶν σώματος κύριοι. Ὁ καταφρονηθεὶς νῦν ὑπὸ σοῦ αὐτός ἐστιν τότε ὁ δικάζων· τοῦτο ἐννόει δι' ὅλου, καὶ τὸν ποταμὸν τοῦ πυρός· «Ποταμὸς γάρ, φησίν, πυρὸς εἷλκεν πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ.» Καὶ ὅτι· οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκείνῳ παραδοθέντα τῷ πυρὶ προσδοκῆσαι κολάσεως τέλος. Ἀλλ' αἱ μὲν ἄτοποι τοῦ βίου ἡδοναὶ τῶν σκιῶν καὶ τῶν ὀνειράτων διαφέρουσιν οὐδέν· πρὶν ἢ γὰρ τελεσθῆναι τὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, σβέννυται τὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς· αἱ δὲ ὑπὲρ τούτων κολάσεις πέρας οὐκ ἔχουσιν. Τὸ μὲν ἡδὺ πρὸς ὀλίγον, τὸ δὲ ἀνιαρὸν αἰώνιον. Τί δὲ βέβαιον τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, εἰπέ μοι; Πλοῦτος, ὁ μηδὲ μέχρι τῆς ἑσπέρας μείνας πολλάκις; Ἀλλὰ δόξα; ἀλλ' ἄκουέ τινος λέγοντος δικαίου· «Ὁ βίος μου ἐλαφρότερος δρόμεως.» Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι πρὶν ἢ στῆναι μεταπηδῶσιν, οὕτω καὶ αὐτὸς πρὶν ἢ παραγενέσθαι ἀφίπταται. Οὐδὲν ψυχῆς τιμιώτερον· καὶ οὐδὲ οἱ μωρίας εἰς ἔσχατον