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and a spectacle as he went out, in order to make the condemnation of the proud man inexcusable. He desired even the crumbs from the table and did not obtain even these; but the one was bursting with fullness, while the other was wasting away from want. 1.7.3 It was good and just, therefore, to set up that Canaanite Phoenician woman as a teacher for the misanthropic rich man, saying those things that are written: O accursed and proud one, even the little dogs eat from the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters; but you did not deem your brother, of the same race, worthy of this gift? 1.7.4 But the dogs were carefully fed, the guard dogs separately, the hunting dogs apart; and they were deemed worthy of shelter and a bed and had attendants diligently assigned to them, but the image of God was thrown on the ground, neglected and trampled upon, which the master craftsman and creator of all things fashioned with his own hand, if Moses is credible in documenting the origin of men. 1.8.1 If, then, the story of Lazarus had ended at this point and the nature of things was such that our life is circumscribed by the inequality of this life, I would have uttered great cries of indignation, that we who were created with equal honor live so unequally with those of our own race. 1.8.2 But since the things that remain are good to hear, you who have groaned in what has passed, O poor man, be of good cheer in what follows, having learned of the blessed enjoyment of your fellow sufferer. For you will find the precise tribunal of a just judge, in which the one who lived in pleasure groans and the one who toiled delights; and each receives the rewards according to his worth. 1.9.1 And it came to pass that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels into the bosom of Abraham. Do you see the attendants of the just and poor man and the ministers of his departure? For angels were his escort, looking upon him calmly and gently, and by their appearance making clear the care and rest that awaited him. And having been carried, he was placed in the bosoms of the patriarch, which also provides a starting point for perplexity to those who gladly examine the depths of the Scriptures. 1.9.2 For if every righteous person who dies were carried to the same place, the bosom would be very large and spread out to infinity, if indeed it were to be capable of holding the entire multitude of the holy. But if this is entirely impossible—for a hollowed-out bosom with difficulty envelops even one man, and scarcely two infants—a certain contemplation awaits us, guiding us by the image of the sensible bosom to some intelligible reality. 1.9.3 For what is it that is said? Abraham, it says, receives those who have lived a well-ordered life. Tell me then, O divine Luke—for I will speak to you as if you were present and seen—why, when there were many righteous men older than Abraham, did you assign this honor to the one later in age, keeping silent about Enoch, Noah, and any other who was their follower in life? But perhaps I understand you, and what I reckon does not fall outside the scope. 1.9.4 For since Abraham was a servant 1.9.4 of Christ, and he preeminently among men received the epiphanies of Christ, and the mystery of the Trinity was sufficiently prefigured for us in the tent of this old man, when he offered hospitality to the three angels as wayfaring men, and simply from many mystical riddles this man has become an intimate of God, who in later times clothed Himself in flesh and through the midst of this human veil spoke clearly to men, for this reason he says his bosom is, as it were, a certain calm harbor and an untroubled resting-place for the righteous. 1.9.5 For in Christ is the salvation of us all and the hope and the expectation of the age to come, in Him who sprang from the flesh of Abraham according to the human succession. And it seems to me that the honor of the word concerning the old man has its reference to the Savior, who is both judge and rewarder of virtue and by the ministering voice
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καὶ ἐξιόντος θέαμα, ἵνα ἀπαραίτητον ἐργάσηται τοῦ ὑπερηφάνου τὴν καταδίκην. Ἐπεθύμει καὶ τῶν ψιχίων τῆς τραπέζης καὶ οὐδὲ τούτων ἐτύγχανεν· ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν τῇ πλησμονῇ διερρήγνυτο, ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐνδείας ἐτήκετο. 1.7.3 Καλὸν οὖν ἦν καὶ δίκαιον τὴν Χαναναίαν ἐκείνην τὴν Φοίνισσαν διδάσκαλον ἐπιστῆσαι τῷ μισανθρώπῳ πλουσίῳ, λέγουσαν ἐκεῖνα τὰ γεγραμμένα ὅτι Ὦ ἀλάστορ καὶ ὑπερήφανε, καὶ τὰ κυνάρια ἐσθίει ἀπὸ τῶν ψιχίων τῶν πιπτόντων ἀπὸ τῆς τραπέζης τῶν κυρίων αὐτῶν· σὺ δὲ τὸν ἀδελφόν σου, τὸν ὁμόφυλον, ταύτης τῆς δωρεᾶς οὐκ ἠξίωσας; 1.7.4 Ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν κύνες ἐπιμελῶς ἐτρέφοντο, κατ' ἰδίαν οἱ φύλακες, χωρὶς οἱ θηρευτικοί· καὶ στέγης ἠξιοῦντο καὶ κλίνης καὶ θεραπευτὰς εἶχον ἀποκεκληρωμένους κατὰ σπουδήν, ἔρριπτο δὲ χαμαὶ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰκὼν ἀμελουμένη καὶ πατουμένη, ἣν ἰδίᾳ χειρὶ ὁ τῶν ὅλων ἀριστοτέχνης καὶ δημιουργὸς διεπλάσατο, εἰ τῷ Μωϋσῆς ἀξιόπιστος τεκμηριῶσαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν γένεσιν. 1.8.1 Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐτελεύτησεν μέχρι τούτου τὸ τοῦ Λαζάρου διήγημα καὶ οὕτως εἶχε τῶν πραγμάτων ἡ φύσις, ὡς τῇ ἀνωμαλίᾳ τοῦ βίου τούτου τὴν ζωὴν ἡμῶν περιγράφεσθαι, μεγάλας ἂν ἀφῆκα σχετλιάζων φωνάς, ἐφ' οἷς οἱ κτισθέντες ὁμοτίμως οὕτως ἀνίσως μετὰ τῶν ὁμοφύλων διάγομεν. 1.8.2 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καλὰ τὰ λειπόμενα πρὸς ἀκρόασιν, ἐν τοῖς παρελθοῦσι στενάξας, ὁ πένης, ἐν τοῖς ἀκολούθοις εὐθύμησον μαθὼν τοῦ συμπτώχου σου τὴν μακαρίαν ἀπόλαυσιν. Εὑρήσεις γὰρ δικαίου κριτοῦ ἀκριβὲς δικαστήριον, ἐν ᾧ στενάζει ὁ ἡδυπαθήσας καὶ τρυφᾷ ὁ μοχθήσας· ἑκάτερος δὲ κομίζεται τὰ πρὸς ἀξίαν ἐπίχειρα. 1.9.1 Ἐγένετο δὲ ἀποθανεῖν τὸν πτωχὸν καὶ ἀπενεχθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων εἰς τὸν κόλπον Ἀβραάμ. Ὁρᾷς τοὺς διακονιστὰς τοῦ δικαίου καὶ πένητος καὶ τοὺς ὑπηρέτας τῆς μεταστάσεως; Ἄγγελοι γὰρ ἐδορυφόρουν, γαληνόν τε καὶ πρᾶον εἰς αὐτὸν βλέποντες καὶ τῷ σχήματι προδηλοῦντες τὴν ἀναμένουσαν αὐτὸν θεραπείαν καὶ ἄνεσιν. Ἐνετέθη δὲ κομισθεὶς τοῖς κόλποις τοῦ πατριάρχου, ὃ καὶ διαπορήσεως ἀφορμὴν παρέχει τοῖς ἡδέως τὰ βάθη τῶν Γραφῶν βασανίζουσιν. 1.9.2 Εἰ γὰρ πᾶς τελευτῶν δίκαιος πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν κομίζοιτο τόπον, πολύς τις ἂν εἴη καὶ ἐπ' ἄπειρον ἀνηπλωμένος ὁ κόλπος, εἴ γε μέλλοι χωρητικὸς ἔσεσθαι τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ὁσίων παντός. Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο παντελῶς ἀμήχανον κόλπος γὰρ κοιλανθεὶς ἄνδρα μὲν καὶ ἕνα δυσχερῶς, μόλις δὲ δύο περιστέλλει βρέφηθεωρία τις ἡμᾶς ἐκδέχεται τῇ εἰκόνι τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ κόλπου πρὸς νοητήν τινα πραγματείαν χειραγωγοῦσα. 1.9.3 Τί γάρ ἐστι τὸ λεγόμενον; Ὁ Ἀβραάμ, φησίν, ἀποδέχεται τοὺς τὸν εὐπολίτευτον ζήσαντας βίον. Εἰπὲ τοίνυν, ὦ θεσπέσιε Λουκᾶ ὡς πρὸς παρόντα γάρ σε καὶ ὁρώμενον διαλέξομαι διὰ τί πολλῶν ὄντων δικαίων καὶ πρεσβυτέρων τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ταύτην τῷ μεθηλικεστέρῳ τὴν τιμὴν ἀπεκλήρωσας, σιωπήσας τὸν Ἑνώχ, τὸν Νῶε καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος κατὰ τὸν βίον τούτοις ἀκόλουθος; Ἀλλά σου τάχα συνίημι καὶ οὐκ ἔξω βάλλει τοῦ σκοποῦ ἃ λογίζομαι. 1.9.4 Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὁ Ἀβραὰμ θεράπων 1.9.4 Χριστοῦ καὶ διαφερόντως οὗτος ἀνθρώπων τὰς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπιφανείας ἐδέξατο, καὶ τὸ τῆς Τριάδος μυστήριον ἱκανῶς ἡμῖν ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ γέροντος τούτου διετυπώθη, ἡνίκα τοὺς τρεῖς ἀγγέλους ὡς ἄνδρας ὁδοιπόρους ἐξένισε, καὶ ἁπλῶς ἐκ πολλῶν τῶν μυστικῶν αἰνιγμάτων οἰκεῖος ἄνθρωπος οὗτος γεγένηται τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῦ χρόνοις ὕστερον ἀμφιε σαμένου τὴν σάρκα καὶ διὰ μέσου τοῦ ἀνθρωπικοῦ τούτου παραπετάσματος ἐναργῶς ὁμιλήσαντος τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, διὰ τοῦτο τὸν κόλπον αὐτοῦ οἷον εὔδιόν τινα λιμένα καὶ ἄκλυστον ἀναπαυτήριον εἶναι τῶν δικαίων φησίν. 1.9.5 Ἐν Χριστῷ γὰρ πάντων ἡμῶν ἡ σωτηρία καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς καὶ ἡ ἀπεκδοχὴ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, τῷ ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ κατὰ τὴν ἀνθρωπικὴν ἀκολουθίαν βλαστήσαντι. Καί μοι δοκεῖ ἡ περὶ τὸν γέροντα τοῦ λόγου τιμὴ εἰς τὸν Σωτῆρα τὴν ἀναφορὰν ἔχειν, τὸν καὶ κριτὴν ὄντα καὶ μισθαποδότην τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῇ θεραπευτικῇ φωνῇ