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Peter to be standing at the gates, having escaped Herod's prison, they, disbelieving, said: "It is his angel." And the Savior bears witness to this, saying of the children: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." And Christ appointed guardian angels over each church, as he says in a revelation to John: "Say to the angel of the church of Smyrna: 'I know your poverty and your affliction, but you are rich.'" What do you say, Lord? I, the poor one, am rich? Why do you enrich me with an empty name? For if I am rich, I am not poor; but if I am poor, I am not rich; for there is a great separation between wealth and poverty, as you yourself testify, having fixed a great chasm between the rich man and the poor man. Deceitful are their faces; the rich man turns away from the poor man, the poor man looks suspiciously at the rich man; their circumstances are opposite, their life is unequal; for one groans in his sufferings, while the other laughs loudly in his pleasures; this one prays to get a piece of bread, that one is puffed up with gluttony; this one cannot afford a cup of wine, that one belches out his drunkenness from carousing; this one is clothed in rags, that one takes delight in varied garments; this one is cast down sleepless on the ground, that one snores on a couch, dreaming of luxury; this one asks for a small coin, that one is buried in gold; for he who hoards treasure, but does not distribute it, is like a poor man awaiting a rich burial. But they do not rejoice equally in the seasons either; for to the poor man winter is harsh, as he has no warmth, while for the rich man summer is wretched, as he cannot bear the heat because of his surfeit. How then is the same person poor and rich? The saying is true; for he who speaks is truth. We are poor because of the lack of money, but rich because of the treasures of faith. It is better to be poor in the things of this life, but to be rich in spiritual things; for the end of the former is corruption, but the gain of the latter is inalienable. For this reason the Savior says: "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in," and so on. It is good, therefore, for us to store up heavenly treasures by feeding the poor, welcoming the homeless, clothing the naked, releasing debtors and transferring the loan to God; "He who has pity on the poor," he says, "lends to God." For angels, seeing these things, report them to the judge of all; and he commands them to say to the one who does good: "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God."

6 And the most wise Daniel, young in age, but an elder in mind, a captive because of the wickedness of others, but because of his own virtues reaping the first prize even from the most shameful of the elders and an advocate for the blameless Susanna, the tamer of lions and the one who made a cake of destruction for the dragon of Bel, the seer of others' dreams and the lover of mystical visions; for "Daniel," he says, "is a man of desires," desires not of the flesh nor of the passions of the soul, but of divine wisdom and understanding; whence God revealed to him future things, the kingdoms of the earth, those of the Medes and Persians and Macedonians and the Romans themselves, and above all these, our Lord Jesus as a stone cut from a mountain without hands, that is, born in the flesh from an unwed virgin, the revival of the dead, the transformation of the living, the judgment by fire, the crown of the pious and the torment of the impious. Such a man says that angels are a great matter; for by the command of God who created all creation, they were allotted and set over the most powerful of the nations, one to watch over the Persians, and Michael the archangel to guard the people of the circumcision; and that a conflict arose between both overseers, not according to a passion of anger, but according to some divine and ineffable reason, the one compelling the Jews to serve the Persians, the other pulling them back towards freedom. One might suppose the overseer of the Persians to say such things: "Let them be, Michael; why

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θυρῶν ἑστάναι Πέτρον τὸ Ἡρῴδου διαδράντα δεσμωτήριον, ἀπιστοῦντες ἔλεγον ἐκεῖνοι· Ἄγγελος αὐτοῦ ἐστιν. Ἐπιμαρτυρεῖ δὲ τούτοις καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ περὶ τῶν παιδίων λέγων· Ὁρᾶτε μὴ καταφρονήσητε ἑνὸς τῶν μικρῶν τούτων· λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ διαπαντὸς βλέπουσι τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς. Καθ' ἑκάστην δὲ ἐκκλησίαν φύλακας ἀγγέλους ἐπέστησεν ὁ Χριστός, ὡς ἀποκαλύπτων Ἰωάννῃ φησίν· Εἰπὲ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας Σμύρνης· Οἶδά σου τὴν πενίαν καὶ τὴν θλῖψιν, ἀλλὰ πλούσιος εἶ. Τί λέγεις, δέσποτα; Πλούσιός εἰμι ὁ πένης; Τί με κενῷ πλουτίζεις ὀνόματι; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ πλούσιος, οὐ πένης· εἰ δὲ πένης, οὐ πλούσιος· πολλὴ γὰρ πλούτου καὶ πενίας διάστασις, ὡς αὐτὸς μαρτυρεῖς χάσμα μέγα μεταξὺ πλουσίου καὶ πένητος ὁρισάμενος. Ὕπουλα τὰ πρόσωπα· ὁ πλούσιος τὸν πτωχὸν ἀποστρέφεται, ὁ πτωχὸς τὸν πλούσιον ὑποβλέπεται· ἐναντία τὰ πράγματα, ὁ βίος ἀνώμαλος· ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐπιστένει τοῖς πάθεσιν, ὁ δὲ ἐπικαγχάζει ταῖς ἡδοναῖς· οὗτος ἄρτου τυχεῖν ἐπεύχεται, ἐκεῖνος ταῖς ἀδηφαγίαις ὑπερμαζᾷ· οὗτος οἴνου κοτύλης οὐκ εὐπορεῖ, ἐκεῖνος κραιπαλῶν τὴν μέθην ἐξερεύγεται· οὗτος ῥάκος περιβέβληται, ἐκεῖνος ἐν ποικίλαις ἐσθήσεσι περιτέρπεται· οὗτος ἐπὶ ἐδάφους ἀγρυπνῶν ἔρριπται, ἐκεῖνος ἐπὶ στρωμνῆς ῥέγχει τὴν τρυφὴν ὀνειροπολῶν· οὗτος κερμάτιον αἰτεῖ, ἐκεῖνος χρυσῷ κατακέχωσται· ὁ γὰρ θησαυρίζων, μὴ διανέμων δὲ ἔοικε πτωχῷ πλουσίαν ταφὴν ἀναμένοντι. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῖς καιροῖς ἴσως χαίρουσι· τῷ πτωχῷ μὲν γὰρ ὁ χειμὼν χαλεπὸς τὸ θάλπον οὐκ ἔχοντι, τῷ πλουσίῳ δὲ τὸ θέρος μοχθηρὸν ὑπὸ πλησμονῆς τὸ θάλπος οὐ στέγοντι. Πῶς οὖν ὁ αὐτὸς πένης καὶ πλούσιος; Ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος· ἀλήθεια γὰρ ὁ φθεγγόμενος. Πένητές ἐσμεν διὰ τὴν ἔνδειαν τῶν χρημάτων, πλούσιοι δὲ διὰ τοὺς θησαυροὺς τῆς πίστεως. Ἄμεινον δὲ πένεσθαι τὰ βιωτικά, πλουτεῖν δὲ τὰ πνευματικά· τῶν μὲν γὰρ τὸ τέλος φθορά, τῶν δὲ τὸ κέρδος ἀναφαίρετον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν ὁ σωτήρ· Μὴ θησαυρίζετε ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅπου σὴς καὶ βρῶσις ἀφανίζει, ὅπου κλέπται διορύσσουσι καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Καλὸν οὖν ἡμᾶς θησαυρίζειν τὰ ἐπουράνια πτωχοὺς τρέφοντας, ἀστέγους ξενίζοντας, ἀσκέπους περιβάλλοντας, χρεωφειλέταις ἀπολύοντας καὶ τὸ δάνειον εἰς θεὸν μεταφέροντας· Ὁ ἐλεῶν πτωχόν, φησίν, δανείζει θεῷ. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἄγγελοι θεωροῦντες ἐπὶ τὸν κριτὴν τῶν ὅλων ἀναφέρουσιν· ὁ δὲ προστάττει λέγειν αὐτοὺς τῷ ἐργαζο μένῳ τὸ ἀγαθόν· Αἱ εὐχαί σου καὶ αἱ ἐλεημοσύναι σου ἀνέβησαν εἰς μνημόσυνον ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θεοῦ.

6 Καὶ ὁ σοφώτατος ∆ανιὴλ ὁ νέος τὸν χρόνον, γέρων δὲ τὸν νοῦν, ὁ διὰ τὰς ἄλλων κακίας αἰχμάλωτος, διὰ δὲ τὰς οἰκείας ἀρετὰς καὶ τοῖς αἰσχίστοις τῶν γερόντων τὰ πρωτεῖα καρπούμενος καὶ τῆς ἀνευθύνου Σωσάννης συνήγορος, ὁ τῶν λεόντων χαλιναγωγὸς καὶ τῷ βηλαίῳ δράκοντι μαζοποιήσας ὄλεθρον, ὁ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ὀνείρων θεατὴς καὶ τῶν μυστικῶν θεωρημάτων ἐραστής· ∆ανιὴλ γάρ, φησίν, ἀνὴρ ἐπιθυμιῶν, ἐπιθυμιῶν οὐ σαρκὸς οὐδὲ ψυχῆς παθῶν, ἀλλὰ σοφίας ἐνθέου καὶ συνέσεως· ὅθεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς τὰ μέλλοντα προεμήνυσε, τὰς ἡγεμονίας τῆς γῆς, τὰ Μήδων καὶ Περσῶν καὶ Μακεδόνων καὶ Ῥωμαίων αὐτῶν, ἐπὶ πᾶσιν δὲ τούτοις τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν ὡς λίθον ἐξ ὄρους ἀτόμου τεμνόμενον, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἐνσάρκως ἐξ ἀγάμου παρθένου τικτόμενον, τῶν νεκρῶν τὴν ἀναβίωσιν, τῶν ζώντων τὴν μεταλλαγήν, τὴν διὰ πυρὸς κρίσιν, τῶν εὐσεβῶν τὸν στέφανον καὶ τῶν ἀσεβῶν τὴν βάσανον. Ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀνὴρ μέγα τι χρῆμα τοὺς ἀγγέλους φησί· προστάξει γὰρ θεοῦ τοῦ κτίσαντος τὴν πᾶσαν κτίσιν διαλαχεῖν καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν τοῖς κρατίστοις ἐπικρατεῖν, τὸν μέν τινα τοὺς Πέρσας ἐφορᾶν, τὸν δὲ Μιχαὴλ ἀρχάγγελον τὸν ἐκ περιτομῆς λαὸν φρουρεῖν· συστῆναι δὲ τοῖς ἐφόροις ἄμφω διαπληκτισμὸν οὐ κατὰ πάθος ὀργῆς, ἀλλὰ κατὰ θεῖόν τινα καὶ ἀπόρρητον λόγον, τοῦ μὲν δουλεύειν Ἰουδαίους Πέρσαις ἀναγκάζοντος, τοῦ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀνθέλκοντος. Ὑπόθοιτο δὴ ἄν τις τὸν τῶν Περσῶν ἔφορον τοιαῦτα λέγειν· Ἔασον, Μιχαήλ· τί