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the more diligent condemn the more slothful, but indeed the diligence of these condemns even the demons themselves. And Paul made this clear, saying: Do you not know that we will judge angels? how much more the things of this life? speaking of the devil's angels, the apostates. And how will we judge them, he says? Not by sitting and demanding an account from them, but by condemning their sloth through our diligence. Which very thing he also declared, saying: And if the world is judged in you; he did not say upon you, but through you. Just as when he says: The men of Nineveh will rise up, and will condemn this generation, not as the Ninevites demanding an account from the unbelieving Jews of that time, but as their faith condemning the unbelief of these. It is possible also to derive the greatest benefit for virtue and for contempt of present affairs from the martyrs. For when you see them despising all of life, even if you are more insensible and duller than all, you will receive a most lofty mind, and you will laugh at luxury, you will despise money, and you will desire the life there; even if you are in sickness, you will take the greatest occasion for patience, the sufferings of the martyrs; even if pressed by poverty, or by any other of the most difficult things, looking to the magnitude of the tortures inflicted on them you will have sufficient consolation for all the terrible things that have befallen you. For this reason I especially love the memorials of the martyrs, and I love and embrace them, all of them indeed, but especially when women happen to be the contestants. For the weaker the vessel, the greater the grace, the more brilliant the trophy, the more manifest the victory, not because of the weakness of the nature of the athletes, but because by those very means by which the enemy conquered, by these he has now been captured. For through a virgin the devil formerly killed Adam, through a virgin Christ afterwards defeated the devil, and the sword which had been sharpened by him against us, this cut off the dragon's head, which also happened in the case of David. For just as then that righteous man, running, cut off the head of Goliath with the barbarian's own sword, so indeed also now: through a woman he conquered, through a woman he has been defeated. This was his weapon before, this has now become for him an instrument of slaughter, this an invincible vessel. The first one sinned and died; this one died so that she might not sin; that one then, puffed up by the hope of a cold promise, 50.688 trampled on the laws of God; this one despised even the present life, so as not to renounce her faith in her benefactor. What defense, then, could be left for men who are effeminate, what pardon, when women act like men? when they so nobly strip for the contests of piety? For neither nature, nor age, nor anything else could be an impediment, when eagerness is present, and zeal, and fiery faith; and through all these things we draw down the grace of God, which indeed also happened in the case of this blessed woman. For her body was weak, and her nature easily assailed, and her age rather young, but grace, coming upon the weakness of all these things, concealed it, since she found a noble eagerness, and unwavering faith, and a soul prepared for dangers. 4. For there is nothing, there is nothing more powerful than one who has the fear of God rooted with much diligence, but even if fire, or iron, or wild beasts, or anything else is threatened, he despises all of them with much ease, just as this blessed Drosis did. For when the tyrant had lit the pyre; for he neither led her to a pit, nor did he cut off her head, so that the brevity of the punishment might not make the contest easier for her, but wishing to break her spirit,

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σπουδαιότεροι τοὺς ῥᾳθυμοτέρους κατακρίνουσιν, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ αὐτοὺς τοὺς δαίμονας ἡ τούτων καταδικάζει σπουδή. Καὶ ταῦτα Παῦλος ἐδήλωσε λέγων· Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ἀγγέλους κρινοῦμεν; μήτι γε βιωτικά; τοὺς τοῦ διαβόλου λέγων ἀγγέλους, τοὺς ἀποστάτας. Καὶ πῶς κρινοῦμεν αὐτοὺς, φησίν; Οὐχὶ καθήμενοι καὶ εὐθύνας αὐτοὺς ἀπαιτοῦντες, ἀλλὰ δι' ἡμετέρας σπουδῆς τὴν ἐκείνων κατακρίνοντες ῥᾳθυμίαν. Ὅπερ οὖν καὶ αὐτὸ δηλῶν ἔλεγε· Καὶ εἰ ἐν ὑμῖν κρίνεται ὁ κόσμος· οὐκ εἶπεν ἐφ' ὑμῶν, ἀλλὰ δι' ὑμῶν. Ὥσπερ ὅταν λέγῃ· Ἄνδρες Νινευῗται ἀναστήσονται, καὶ κατακρινοῦσι τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην, οὐχ ὡς τῶν Νινευϊτῶν λόγον ἀπαιτούντων τοὺς τότε ἀπιστοῦντας τῶν Ἰουδαίων, ἀλλ' ὡς τῆς ἐκείνων πίστεως τὴν τούτων ἀπιστίαν καταδικαζούσης. Ἔστι καὶ εἰς ἀρετὴν μέγιστα ἀπόνασθαι καὶ εἰς ὑπεροψίαν τῶν παρόντων πραγμάτων ἀπὸ τῶν μαρτύρων. Ὅταν γὰρ ἴδῃς τούτους ἁπάσης καταφρονοῦντας τῆς ζωῆς, κἂν ἁπάντων ἀναισθητότερος ᾖς καὶ νωθρότατος, ὑψηλότατον δέξῃ φρόνημα, καὶ καταγελάσῃ τρυφῆς, ὑπερόψει χρημάτων, καὶ ἐπιθυμήσεις τῆς ἐκεῖ διατριβῆς· κἂν ἐν ἀῤῥωστίαις ᾖς, εἰς ὑπομονὴν ἀφορμὴν λήψῃ μεγίστην, τὰ τῶν μαρτύρων παθήματα· κἂν πενίᾳ πιέζῃ, κἂν ὁτιοῦν ἕτερον τῶν χαλεπωτάτων, πρὸς τὸ μέγεθος τῶν ἐκείνοις ἐπαχθεισῶν βασάνων βλέπων ἀρκοῦσαν ἕξεις παραμυθίαν τῶν κατειληφότων ἁπάντων δεινῶν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα φιλῶ τῶν μαρτύρων τὰς μνήμας, καὶ φιλῶ καὶ ἀσπάζομαι, πάσας μὲν, μάλιστα δὲ ὅταν γυναῖκες ἀγωνιζόμεναι τύχωσιν. Ὅσῳ γὰρ τὸ σκεῦος ἀσθενέστερον, τοσούτῳ μείζων ἡ χάρις, τοσούτῳ λαμπρότερον τὸ τρόπαιον, τοσούτῳ περιφανεστέρα ἡ νίκη, οὐ διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τῆς φύσεως τῶν ἀθλητῶν, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ οἷς ἐκράτησεν ὁ ἐχθρὸς, τούτοις ἑάλω νῦν. ∆ιὰ παρθένου γοῦν ἀπέκτεινε πρώην τὸν Ἀδὰμ ὁ διάβολος, διὰ παρθένου μετὰ ταῦτα κατηγωνίσατο τὸν διάβολον ὁ Χριστὸς, καὶ τὸ ξίφος ὅπερ ἦν ἠκονημένον αὐτῷ καθ' ἡμῶν, τοῦτο τὴν τοῦ δράκοντος ἀπέτεμε κεφαλὴν, ὅπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ∆αυῒδ γέγονε. Καθάπερ γὰρ τότε τοῦ Γολιὰθ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὁ δίκαιος ἐκεῖνος αὐτῷ τῷ βαρβαρικῷ ξίφει δραμὼν ἀπέκοψεν, οὕτω δὴ καὶ νῦν· διὰ γυναικὸς ἐκράτησε, διὰ γυναικὸς ἥττηται. Τοῦτο ὅπλον ἦν αὐτῷ πρότερον, τοῦτο νῦν γέγονεν αὐτῷ σφαγῆς ὄργανον, τοῦτο σκεῦος ἀκαταγώνιστον. Ἥμαρτεν ἡ προτέρα καὶ ἀπέθανεν, ἀπέθανεν αὕτη, ἵνα μὴ ἁμάρτῃ· ἐκείνη τότε ψυχρᾶς ὑποσχέσεως ἐλπίδι 50.688 φυσηθεῖσα τοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμους κατεπάτησεν· αὕτη καὶ τῆς παρούσης κατεφρόνησε ζωῆς, ὥστε μὴ τὴν εἰς τὸν εὐεργέτην ἐξομόσασθαι πίστιν. Τίς οὖν ἂν γένοιτο λοιπὸν ἀνδράσι μαλακιζομένοις ἀπολογία, τίς δὲ συγγνώμη, ὅταν γυναῖκες ἀνδρίζωνται; ὅταν οὕτω γενναίως πρὸς τοὺς τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀγῶνας ἀποδύωνται; Οὔτε γὰρ φύσις, οὔτε ἡλικία, οὔτε ἄλλο οὐδὲν ἐμποδίσαι δύναιτ' ἂν, ὅταν προθυμία παρῇ, καὶ ζῆλος, καὶ πεπυρωμένη πίστις· καὶ διὰ τούτων ἁπάντων τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν ἐπισπασώμεθα, ὃ δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς μακαρίας ταύτης γέγονε. Καὶ γὰρ ἀσθενὲς ἦν αὐτῇ τὸ σῶμα, καὶ εὐεπηρέαστος ἡ φύσις, καὶ ἀτελεστέρα ἡ ἡλικία, ἀλλὰ πάντων τούτων τὴν ἀσθένειαν ἐπελθοῦσα ἡ χάρις ἀπέκρυψεν, ἐπειδὴ προθυμίαν εὗρεν αὕτη γενναίαν, καὶ πίστιν ἀδιάκριτον, καὶ ψυχὴν πρὸς κινδύνους παρεσκευασμένην. δʹ. Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν, οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν δυνατώτερον τοῦ μετὰ σπουδῆς πολλῆς τὸν φόβον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔχοντος ἐῤῥιζωμένον, ἀλλὰ κἂν πῦρ, κἂν σίδηρος, κἂν θηρία, κἂν ὁτιοῦν ἕτερον ἀπειλῆται, πάντων ὑπερορᾷ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς εὐκολίας, καθάπερ οὖν καὶ ἡ μακαρία αὕτη ∆ροσίς. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἧψε τὴν πυρὰν ὁ τύραννος· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπὶ βάραθρον αὐτὴν ἤγαγεν, οὐδὲ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀπέτεμεν, ἵνα μὴ τὸ σύντομον τῆς τιμωρίας εὐκολώτερον αὐτῇ ποιήσῃ τὸν ἆθλον, ἀλλὰ τὸ φρόνημα αὐτῆς καταπλῆξαι βουλόμενος,