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ON PROVIDENCE AND FATE. Sermon 2. He that speaks evil of father, or mother, let him die the death, it says; in the Old Covenant the law was laid down, when the precision of the best way of life was not great, when it was an introduction to the divine, when the commandments were for children, when it was the milk, when the tutor, when the lamp, when the type and the shadow. What then shall we say about those now in grace, and in the reality of things, and in such great knowledge, who speak evil not of father and mother, but of the very God of all? what punishment will receive such men? what chastisement will suffice for the measure of their wickedness? what river of fire, what unceasing worm, what outer darkness, what bonds, what gnashing, what weeping? All torments are less, both those that are and those that will be, for a soul so disposed, for one that has been brought down to such wickedness. But the types of blasphemy are many and various; wherefore it is necessary to set them forth today, so that no one may willingly fall into such a thing, nor overlook a friend or an enemy falling into it. For there is not, there is not a worse sin than this, nor even an equal. but this is also an addition of evils, and that which confounds all things, and has an unpardonable chastisement and an unbearable punishment. Who are they that speak evil of God? Those who wall up against the wisdom of His providence the disorder and necessity that come from fate. And that the unbelievers, and those who gape at and worship wood and stones, should suffer from this disease, is nothing wonderful; but that those who have been freed from this error and slavery, and have been counted worthy to know the God over all, the true and real God, as if by some ebb tide, should be dragged under to that dizziness, that reasoning and madness, this is the most dreadful thing, and truly worthy of many tears and lamentations; when those who say they worship Christ, and have been counted worthy of so many mysteries, and have partaken of the secret doctrines, and of the wisdom brought down to us from heaven, after such great honor as they have enjoyed from God, willingly cast themselves down from a precipice, casting themselves out with great irrationality from the freedom which God has bestowed on them, but submitting themselves to a most harsh slavery, and fashioning through their reasonings a most tyrannical tyranny which does not exist, and cutting off all good hope, and attempting to sever the sinews of those who are zealous for virtue. Just as in war some enemy, seeing noble soldiers who are ready to give their very soul for their country, and being unable 50.754 to harm them in another way, nor to make them desist from their zeal for the king, nor to make them cowards, nor to overcome them with siege engines, might ruin them in another way, by attempting to persuade them that they show such great labor randomly and in vain and for nothing, so as to loosen their hands, so as to cast down their strength, so as to extinguish their zeal, so that through all these things he may make them desist from their earnestness for the war, and considering them naked and unarmed, may take them captive in bonds; so also has the devil done. Since he saw through the grace of God the greater part of the world laughing at the Hellenic error, and with all passion and all soul esteeming the word of piety, then from this came great zeal for virtue, great

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ΠΕΡΙ ΠΡΟΝΟΙΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΙΜΑΡΜΕΝΗΣ. Λόγος βʹ. Ὁ κακολογῶν πατέρα, ἢ μητέρα, θανάτῳ τελευτάτω, φησίν· ἐπὶ τῆς Παλαιᾶς ὁ νόμος ἔκειτο, ὅτε οὐ πολλὴ ἀρίστης πολιτείας ἡ ἀκρίβεια, ὅτε εἰσαγωγὴ τοῦ θείου ἦν, ὅτε παιδικὰ τὰ παραγγέλματα, ὅτε τὸ γάλα, ὅτε ὁ παιδαγωγὸς, ὅτε ὁ λύχνος, ὅτε ὁ τύπος καὶ ἡ σκιά. Τί οὖν ἂν εἴποιμεν περὶ τῶν νῦν ἐν τῇ χάριτι, καὶ τῇ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀληθείᾳ, καὶ τῇ τοσαύτῃ γνώσει, οὐχὶ πατέρα καὶ μητέρα κακολογούντων, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεόν; τίς τοὺς τοιούτους δέξεται τιμωρία; ποία τῷ μέτρῳ τῆς κακίας διαρκέσει κόλασις; ποῖος δὲ πυρὸς ποταμὸς, ποῖος σκώληξ ἀτελεύτητος, ποῖον σκότος ἐξώτερον, ποῖα δεσμὰ, ποῖος βρυγμὸς, ποῖος κλαυθμός; Πάντα ἐλάττω τὰ βασανιστήρια, καὶ τὰ ὄντα καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα τῆς οὕτω διακειμένης ψυχῆς, τῆς πρὸς τοσοῦτον κακίας κατενεχθείσης. Βλασφημίας δὲ τρόποι πολλοὶ καὶ διάφοροι· διόπερ ἀναγκαῖον αὐτοὺς ἐκθέσθαι τήμερον, ὥστε μήτε ἑκόντας τινὶ τοιούτῳ περιπεσεῖν, μήτε τινὰ τῶν φίλων, μήτε ἐχθρὸν περιπίπτοντα παριδεῖν. Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν, οὐκ ἔστι ταύτης ἁμαρτία χείρων, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἴση. ἀλλὰ καὶ προσθήκη κακῶν τοῦτό ἐστι, καὶ ὃ πάντα συγχεῖ, καὶ ἀσύγγνωστον ἔχει κόλασιν καὶ ἀφόρητον τιμωρίαν. Τίνες εἰσὶν οἱ τὸν Θεὸν κακῶς λέγοντες; Οἱ τῇ σοφίᾳ τῆς προνοίας αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐκ τῆς εἱμαρμένης ἀταξίαν καὶ ἀνάγκην ἐπιτειχίζοντες. Καὶ τὸ μὲν τοὺς ἀπίστους, καὶ πρὸς ξύλα καὶ λίθους κεχηνότας, καὶ θεραπεύοντας, ταύτην νοσεῖν τὴν νόσον, θαυμαστὸν οὐδέν· τὸ δὲ τοὺς ταύτης μὲν ἀπαλλαγέντας τῆς πλάνης καὶ τῆς δουλείας, καταξιωθέντας δὲ τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων εἰδέναι Θεὸν, τὸν ἀληθῆ καὶ ὄντως Θεὸν, ὥσπερ ἔκ τινος παλιῤῥοίας, πρὸς ἐκείνην ὑποσύρεσθαι τὴν ζάλην, τὸν λογισμὸν καὶ τὴν μανίαν, τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ δεινότατον, καὶ πολλῶν ὄντως δακρύων καὶ θρήνων ἄξιον· ὅταν οἱ τὸν Χριστὸν λέγοντες προσκυνεῖν, καὶ τοσούτων καταξιωθέντες μυστηρίων, καὶ τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων μετασχόντες δογμάτων, καὶ τῆς σοφίας τῆς ἐξ οὐρανῶν ἡμῖν κατενηνεγμένης, μετὰ τὴν τοσαύτην τιμὴν ἧς ἀπολελαύκασι παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἑκόντες ἑαυτοὺς κατακρημνίζωσι, τῆς μὲν ἐλευθερίας, ἣν αὐτοῖς ὁ Θεὸς ἐχαρίσατο, μετὰ πολλῆς ἀλογίας ἑαυτοὺς ἐκβαλόντες, δουλείᾳ δὲ χαλεπωτάτῃ ὑποβαλόντες ἑαυτοὺς, καὶ τυραννικωτάτην τυραννίδα τὴν οὐκ οὖσαν ἀναπλάττοντες διὰ τῶν λογισμῶν, καὶ πᾶσαν ἐλπίδα χρηστὴν ἐκκόπτοντες, καὶ τὰ νεῦρα τῶν ὑπὲρ ἀρετῆς ἐσπουδακότων ἐκτεμεῖν ἐπιχειροῦντες. Καθάπερ ἐν πολέμῳ στρατιώτας γενναίους, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἑτοίμους ὄντας ἐπιδοῦναι, τῶν ἐχθρῶν τις ἰδὼν, καὶ μὴ δυνηθεὶς 50.754 ἑτέρῳ καταβλάψαι τρόπῳ, μηδὲ ἀποστῆσαι τῆς ὑπὲρ τοῦ βασιλέως προθυμίας, μηδὲ ποιῆσαι δειλοὺς, μηδὲ μηχανήμασι περιγενέσθαι, ἑτέρως λυμήναιτο, πείθειν ἐπιχειρῶν ὡς εἰκῆ καὶ μάτην καὶ ἐπ' οὐδενὶ τοσοῦτον ἐπιδείκνυνται πόνον, ὥστε αὐτῶν ἐκλῦσαι τὰς χεῖρας, ὥστε αὐτῶν καταβαλεῖν τὴν ῥώμην, ὥστε σβέσαι τὴν προθυμίαν, ὥστε διὰ πάντων τούτων ἀποστῆσαι μὲν τῆς περὶ τὸν πόλεμον σπουδῆς, γυμνοὺς δὲ καὶ ἀόπλους νομίσας, δεδεμένους αἰχμαλώτους λαβεῖν· οὕτω καὶ ὁ διάβολος πεποίηκεν. Ἐπειδὴ ἑώρα τῇ χάριτι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ πλέον τῆς οἰκουμένης καταγελῶντας μὲν τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς πλάνης, παντὶ δὲ θυμῷ καὶ πάσῃ ψυχῇ τὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας πρεσβεύοντας λόγον, εἶτα ἐκ τούτου πολλὴν μὲν ἀρετῆς γιγνομένην σπουδὴν, πολλὴν