3

For this reason he says, While you are still speaking; I will not wait for you to finish, and I will immediately listen. Let us call him, therefore, as he wishes to be called. But how does he wish? Loose, he says, every bond of wickedness, dissolve the knots of forced contracts, tear up every unjust document. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house. If you see the naked, clothe him, and do not despise the members of your own seed. Then your light will break forth like the morning, and your healing will spring up quickly, and your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of God will surround you. Then you will call upon me, and I will hear you, while you are still speaking, I will say, behold, I am here. And who is able to do all these things, he says? But who is not able, tell me? For what is difficult among the things that have been said? What is laborious? What is not easy? For thus it is not only possible, but also easy, because many have even exceeded the measure, not only tearing up unjust documents, but also stripping themselves of all their possessions; not receiving the poor with shelter and a table, but also toiling with the sweat of their body, so as to nourish them, doing good not only to relatives, but also to enemies. But what at all is difficult of the things that have been said? For he did not say, Go over the mountain, cross the sea, dig up so and so many plethra of land, remain without food, put on sackcloth; but, Share your house, share your bread, tear up the documents that were unjustly made.

What is easier than these things, tell me? But if you think they are difficult, consider for me also the prizes, and everything will be easy for you. For just as kings in the hippodromes place crowns and 52.844 cloaks and prizes before the contestants; so also Christ places the prizes in the middle of the stadium, as if extending them through the many hands of the prophet's words. And kings, being men, and having a wealth that is spent and an ambition that is consumed, are ambitious to show few things as many; for which reason, handing over each single thing to each of the deacons, they thus bring them into the middle. But our king, on the contrary, having brought all things together, since he is very wealthy and does nothing for show, thus sets forth in the middle things which, when extended, will be infinite, and will require many hands to hold them. And so that you may learn this, examine each of them with accuracy. Then, he says, your light will break forth like the morning. Does it not seem to you to be one gift? But it is not one. For it has many things within it, both crowns and rewards, and other prizes, and if you wish, by unpacking it we will show all the wealth, as far as it is possible for us to show, only do not grow weary. And first let us learn, what is, It will break forth. It indicates to us the quick and abundant, and how he very much desires our salvation, and how the good things themselves are in labor to come forth, and are hastening; and there will be nothing to hinder their unspeakable rush. Through all of which it shows their abundance, and the infinity of their superabundance. But what is Like the morning? That is, not after being in temptations, nor after the assault of evils, but before they appear.

For just as we call early-ripening fruit that which appears before its season, so also here, indicating again the quickness, he spoke thus, just as he said above, While you are still speaking, I will say, Behold, I am here. But what light does he speak of, and what ever is this, The light? Not this sensible one, but another much better one, which shows us heaven, the angels, the archangels, the Cherubim, the Seraphim, the thrones, the dominions, the principalities, the authorities, the whole army, the royal cities, the tabernacles. For if you are deemed worthy of that light, you will both see these things, and you will be delivered from Gehenna, and from the venomous worm, and from the gnashing of teeth, and from the painful bonds, and from the anguish, and from the affliction, and from the lightless darkness, and from being cut in two, and from the rivers of fire,

3

∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν, Ἔτι λαλοῦντός σου· οὐκ ἀναμένω σε πληρῶσαι, καὶ εὐθέως ὑπακούσω. Καλέσωμεν τοίνυν αὐτὸν, ὡς κληθῆναι βούλεται. Πῶς δὲ βούλεται; Λύε, φησὶ, πάντα σύνδεσμον ἀδικίας, διάλυε στραγγαλιὰς βιαίων συναλλαγμάτων, πᾶσαν συγγραφὴν ἄδικον διάσπα. ∆ιάθρυπτε πεινῶντι τὸν ἄρτον σου, καὶ πτωχοὺς ἀστέγους εἰσάγαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου. Ἐὰν ἴδῃς γυμνὸν, περίβαλε, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκείων τοῦ σπέρματός σου οὐχ ὑπερόψει. Τότε ῥαγήσεται πρώϊμον τὸ φῶς σου, καὶ τὰ ἰάματά σου ταχὺ ἀνατελεῖ, καὶ προπορεύσεται ἔμπροσθέν σου ἡ δικαιοσύνη σου, καὶ ἡ δόξα τοῦ Θεοῦ περιστελεῖ σε. Τότε ἐπικάλεσαί με, καὶ εἰσακούσομαί σου, ἔτι λαλοῦντός σου, ἐρῶ, ἰδοὺ πάρειμι. Καὶ τίς ταῦτα πάντα δύναται ποιῆσαι, φησί; Τίς δὲ οὐ δύναται, εἰπέ μοι; Τί γὰρ δυσχερὲς τῶν εἰρημένων; τί δὲ ἐργῶδες; τί δὲ οὐ ῥᾴδιον; Οὕτω γάρ ἐστιν οὐχὶ δυνατὰ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὔκολα, ὅτι πολλοὶ καὶ τὸ μέτρον ὑπερηκόντισαν, οὐκ ἄδικα γραμματεῖα διασπάσαντες μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ὄντα ἀποδυσάμενοι πάντα· οὐ στέγῃ καὶ τραπέζῃ τοὺς πτωχοὺς ὑποδεχόμενοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ τοῦ σώματος ἱδρῶτι κάμνοντες, ὥστε αὐτοὺς διαθρέψαι, οὐ συγγενεῖς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐχθροὺς εὐεργετοῦντες. Τί δὲ ὅλως καὶ δύσκολον τῶν εἰρημένων; Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἶπεν, Ὑπέρβηθι τὸ ὄρος, διάβηθι τὸ πέλαγος, διάσκαψον γῆς πλέθρα τόσα καὶ τόσα, ἄσιτος διάμενε, σάκκον περιβαλοῦ· ἀλλὰ, Μετάδος τῆς οἰκίας, μετάδος τοῦ ἄρτου, τὰ ἀδίκως κείμενα γραμματεῖα διάῤῥηξον.

Τί τούτων εὐκολώτερον, εἰπέ μοι; Εἰ δὲ καὶ δύσκολα εἶναι νομίζεις, σκόπει μοι καὶ τὰ ἔπαθλα, καὶ ἔσται σοι ῥᾴδια πάντα. Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ βασιλεῖς ἐν ταῖς ἱπποδρομίαις πρὸ τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων στεφάνους καὶ 52.844 ἱμάτια καὶ βραβεῖα τιθέασιν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς, ἐν μέσῳ τίθησι τῷ σταδίῳ τὰ ἔπαθλα, καθάπερ διὰ πολλῶν χειρῶν τῶν τοῦ προφήτου ῥημάτων ἐκτείνων αὐτά. Καὶ οἱ μὲν βασιλεῖς, ἅτε ἄνθρωποι ὄντες, καὶ εὐπορίαν δαπανωμένην ἔχοντες, καὶ φιλοτιμίαν ἀναλισκομένην, τὰ ὀλίγα πολλὰ φιλοτιμοῦνται δεῖξαι· διὸ καὶ ἓν ἕκαστον ἑκάστῳ τῶν διακόνων ἐγχειρίζοντες, οὕτως ὑπάγουσιν εἰς τὸ μέσον. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ὁ ἡμέτερος τοὐναντίον, πάντα ὁμοῦ συμφορήσας, ἐπειδὴ σφόδρα ἐστὶν εὔπορος, καὶ οὐδὲν πρὸς ἐπίδειξιν ποιεῖ, οὕτως εἰς μέσον προτίθησιν ἅπερ ἐκταθέντα ἄπειρα ἔσται, καὶ πολλῶν δεήσεται τῶν κατεχουσῶν χειρῶν. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς τοῦτο, ἕκαστον αὐτῶν περισκόπησον μετὰ ἀκριβείας. Τότε ῥαγήσεται, φησὶ, πρώϊμον τὸ φῶς σου. Ἆρα οὐ δοκεῖ σοι ἕν τι εἶναι δῶρον; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστιν ἕν. Καὶ γὰρ πολλὰ ἔνδον ἔχει, καὶ στεφάνους καὶ βραβεῖα, καὶ ἕτερα ἔπαθλα, καὶ εἰ βούλεσθε, λύσαντες δείξομεν τὸν πλοῦτον ἅπαντα καθὼς ἡμῖν οἷόν τε ἐπιδεῖξαι, μόνον μὴ ἀποκάμητε. Καὶ πρῶτον μάθωμεν, τί ἐστι, Ῥαγήσεται. Τὸ ταχὺ καὶ δαψιλὲς ἡμῖν ἐμφαίνει, καὶ πῶς σφόδρα ἐφίεται τῆς ἡμετέρας σωτηρίας, καὶ πῶς ὠδίνει τὰ ἀγαθὰ αὐτὰ προελθεῖν, καὶ ἐπείγεται· καὶ οὐδὲν ἔσται τὸ κωλύον τὴν ἄφατον ῥύμην. ∆ι' ὧν ἁπάντων τὴν δαψίλειαν αὐτῶν ἐνδείκνυται, καὶ τὸ ἄπειρον τῆς περιουσίας. Τί δέ ἐστι Πρώϊμον, Τουτέστιν, οὐ μετὰ τὸ ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς γενέσθαι, οὐδὲ μετὰ τὴν τῶν κακῶν ἔφοδον, ἀλλὰ πρὸ φανῆναι.

Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν καρπῶν λέγομεν πρώϊμον τὸ πρὸ τοῦ καιροῦ φανὲν, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὸ ταχὺ πάλιν ἐμφαίνων, οὕτως εἶπεν, ὥσπερ ἄνω ἔλεγεν, Ἔτι λαλοῦντός σου, ἐρῶ, Ἰδοὺ πάρειμι. Ποῖον δὲ λέγει φῶς, καὶ τί ποτέ ἐστι τοῦτο, Τὸ φῶς; Οὐ τοῦτο τὸ αἰσθητὸν, ἀλλ' ἕτερον πολλῷ βέλτιον, ὃ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἡμῖν δείκνυσι, τοὺς ἀγγέλους, τοὺς ἀρχαγγέλους, τὰ Χερουβὶμ, τὰ Σεραφὶμ, τοὺς θρόνους, τὰς κυριότητας, τὰς ἀρχὰς, τὰς ἐξουσίας, τὸ στρατόπεδον ἅπαν, τὰς πόλεις τὰς βασιλικὰς, τὰς σκηνάς. Ἂν γὰρ τοῦ φωτὸς ἐκείνου καταξιωθῇς, καὶ ταῦτα ὄψει, καὶ ἀπαλλαγήσῃ γεέννης, καὶ τοῦ σκώληκος τοῦ ἰοβόλου, καὶ τῶν βρυγμῶν τῶν ὀδόντων, καὶ τῶν δεσμῶν τῶν ὀδυνηρῶν, καὶ τῆς στενοχωρίας, καὶ τῆς θλίψεως, καὶ τοῦ σκότους τοῦ ἀφεγγοῦς, καὶ τοῦ διχοτομηθῆναι, καὶ τῶν ποταμῶν τοῦ πυρὸς,