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commandments of God. This reproach against the Lord, and this boast of the enemy, seems to me heavier than the punishments in Gehenna, to become for the enemy of Christ matter for boasting and an occasion for arrogance against Him who died for us and was raised, to whom for this reason we are even more indebted, as it is written. And concerning the love for God, so much for that. For the purpose, as I said before, is not to say everything—for that is impossible—but to instill in souls a brief reminder on the main points, which ever stirs up the divine desire.

QUESTION 3. Concerning love for one's neighbor. It would be fitting to discuss the

second commandment, both in rank and in power. RESPONSE. Now, that the law is the cultivator and nourisher of the powers existing seminally 31.917 within us, has been said by us in the preceding discourses; but since we are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves, let us learn if we also have the power from God for the fulfillment of this commandment. Who then does not know that man is a tame and social animal, and not solitary or savage? For nothing is so characteristic of our nature as to associate with one another, and to need one another, and to love our own kind. Of the seeds, therefore, which the Lord Himself has previously given to us, He consequently also seeks the fruits, saying: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. And wishing to stir our soul to this commandment, as proof of His disciples, He did not demand signs and wondrous powers (although He also granted the working of these in the Holy Spirit); but what does He say? By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. And so everywhere He joins these commandments, so that He transfers the good deed to a neighbor to Himself. For I was hungry, He says, and you gave me to eat, and so forth. Then He adds that, Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. Therefore, through the first it is possible to achieve the second also; and through the second to return again to the first; and one who loves the Lord, consequently also loves his neighbor. For he who loves me, said the Lord, will keep my commandments. And this, He says, is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you; and he who in turn loves his neighbor fulfills the love for God, as God receives the grace unto Himself. Therefore Moses, the faithful servant of God, showed such great love for his brethren that he chose to be blotted out from the book of God, in which he had been written, if the sin were not forgiven the people. And Paul dared to pray to be anathema from Christ for the sake of his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh, wishing to become a ransom for the salvation of all, in imitation of the Lord; and at the same time knowing that it was impossible for one to be estranged from God who, through love for Him, for the sake of the greatest of commandments was giving up the grace from God, and that for this reason he was about to receive back many times more than he had given. Nevertheless, that the saints reached this measure of love for their neighbor, what has been said offers sufficient proof. 31.920

QUESTION 4. Concerning the fear of God. RESPONSE. To those, then, who are newly introduced

to piety, the elementary instruction through fear is more useful, according to the precept of the most wise Solomon, who said: The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord; but for you, as having passed beyond infancy in Christ, and no longer needing milk, but being able to be perfected in the inner man by the solid food of doctrines, there is need of the most essential commandments, in which all the truth of love in Christ

5

ἐντολῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τοῦτο τὸ ὄνειδος, τὸ κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ τοῦτο τὸ καύχημα τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, βαρύτερον ἐμοὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ γεέννῃ κολάσεων φαίνεται, τῷ ἐχθρῷ τοῦ Χρι στοῦ ὕλην γενέσθαι καυχήματος καὶ ἀφορμὴν ἐπάρ σεως κατ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀποθανόντος, καὶ ἐγερθέντος, ᾧ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο περισσοτέρως ὀφειλέται ἐσμὲν, καθὼς γέγραπται. Καὶ περὶ μὲν τῆς εἰς Θεὸν ἀγάπης τοσαῦτα. Σκοπὸς γὰρ, ὡς προεῖπον, οὐχὶ πάντα εἰπεῖν· ἀδύνατον γάρ· ἀλλ' ἐπὶ κεφα λαίων σύντομον ὑπόμνησιν ἀνακινοῦσαν ἀεὶ τὸν θεῖον πόθον ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐμποιῆσαι.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Γʹ. Περὶ τῆς εἰς τὸν πλησίον ἀγάπης. Ἀκόλουθον δ' ἂν εἴη περὶ τῆς

δευτέρας καὶ τάξει καὶ δυνάμει ἐντολῆς διελθεῖν. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ὁ νόμος τῶν σπερματικῶς ἐνυπαρ 31.917 χουσῶν ἡμῖν δυνάμεων γεωργός ἐστι καὶ τροφεὺς, εἴρηται ἡμῖν ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν λόγοις· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀγαπᾷν προστετάγμεθα τὸν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτοὺς, καταμάθωμεν, εἰ καὶ δύναμιν πρὸς τὴν ἐκπλήρωσιν τῆς ἐντολῆς ταύτης ἔχομεν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τίς οὖν οὐκ οἶδεν, ὅτι ἥμερον καὶ κοινωνικὸν ζῶον ὁ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ οὐχὶ μοναστικὸν, οὐδὲ ἄγριον; Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἴδιον τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν, ὡς τὸ κοινωνεῖν ἀλλήλοις, καὶ χρῄζειν ἀλλήλων, καὶ ἀγαπᾷν τὸ ὁμό φυλον. Ὧν οὖν αὐτὸς ἔδωκεν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῖν προλα βὼν τὰ σπέρματα, τούτων ἀκολούθως καὶ τοὺς καρ ποὺς ἐπιζητεῖ, λέγων· Ἐντολὴν καινὴν δίδω μι ὑμῖν, ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους. Καὶ πρὸς ταύτην τὴν ἐντολὴν διεγεῖραι βουλόμενος ἡμῶν τὴν ψυχὴν, ἀπόδειξιν τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν, οὐ σημεῖα καὶ δυνά μεις παραδόξους ἀπῄτησεν (καίτοι καὶ τούτων ἐν Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ χαρισάμενος τὴν ἐνέργειαν)· ἀλλὰ τί φησιν; Ἐν τούτῳ γνώσονται πάντες, ὅτι ἐμοὶ μαθηταί ἐστε, ἐὰν ἀγάπην ἔχητε ἐν ἀλλήλοις. Καὶ οὕτω πανταχοῦ τὰς ἐντολὰς ταύτας συνάπτει, ὥστε τὴν εἰς τὸν πλησίον εὐποιίαν εἰς ἑαυτὸν μετα τίθησιν. Ἐπείνασα γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ ἐδώκατέ μοι φαγεῖν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Εἶτα ἐπάγει, ὅτι Ἐφ' ὅσον ἐποιήσατε ἑνὶ τούτων τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου τῶν ἐλαχίστων, ἐμοὶ ἐποιήσατε. Οὐκοῦν διὰ μὲν τῆς πρώτης ἔστι κατορθῶσαι καὶ τὴν δευτέραν· διὰ δὲ τῆς δευτέρας ἐπανελθεῖν αὖθις ἐπὶ τὴν πρώτην· καὶ ἀγαπῶντα μὲν τὸν Κύ ριον, ἀγαπᾷν ἀκολούθως καὶ τὸν πλησίον. Ὁ γὰρ ἀγαπῶν με, εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος, τὰς ἐντολάς μου τηρήσει. Αὕτη δέ ἐστι, φησὶν, ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ ἐμὴ, ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους, καθὼς ἐγὼ ἠγάπησα ὑμᾶς· ἀγαπῶντα δὲ πάλιν τὸν πλησίον, τὴν εἰς τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπην ἀποπληροῦν, αὐτοῦ εἰς ἑαυτὸν ὑποδε χομένου τὴν χάριν. ∆ιόπερ ὁ μὲν πιστὸς θερά πων τοῦ Θεοῦ Μωσῆς τοσαύτην ἐπεδείκνυτο τὴν εἰς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ἀγάπην, ὥστε καὶ ἐξαλειφθῆναι ᾑρεῖτο ἐκ τῆς βίβλου τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰς ἣν ἐγέγραπτο, εἰ μὴ συγχωρηθείη τῷ λαῷ τὸ ἁμάρτημα. Παῦλος δὲ ἀνά θεμα εἶναι ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ τῶν συγγενῶν κατὰ σάρκα ἀπετόλμησεν εὔξασθαι, τῆς πάντων σωτηρίας ἑαυτὸν ἀντάλλαγμα, κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ Κυρίου, γενέσθαι βουλόμενος· ἅμα δὲ καὶ εἰδὼς, ὅτι ἀμήχανον ἦν ἀλλοτριωθῆναι Θεοῦ τὸν διὰ τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν ἀγάπην ὑπὲρ τῆς μεγίστης τῶν ἐντο λῶν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν προϊέμενον, καὶ ὅτι διὰ τοῦτο πολυπλασίονα ἔμελλεν ὧν ἔδωκεν ἀντιλή ψεσθαι. Πλήν γε ὅτι μέχρι τούτου τοῦ μέτρου τῆς πρὸς τὸν πλησίον ἀγάπης ἔφθασαν οἱ ἅγιοι, ἱκανὴν ἀπόδειξιν ἔχει τὰ εἰρημένα. 31.920

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ∆ʹ. Περὶ φόβου Θεοῦ. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τοῖς μὲν οὖν ἄρτι εἰσαγομένοις

εἰς τὴν εὐσέβειαν ἡ διὰ τοῦ φόβου στοιχείωσις χρησιμωτέρα, κατὰ τὴν ὑποθήκην τοῦ σοφωτάτου Σολομῶντος, εἰπόντος· Ἀρχὴ σοφίας, φόβος Κυρίου· ὑμῖν δὲ, ὡς διαβεβη κόσι τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ νηπιότητα, καὶ οὐκέτι δεομέ νοις γάλακτος, ἀλλὰ δυναμένοις τῇ στερεᾷ τῶν δο γμάτων τροφῇ τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον τελειοῦσθαι, τῶν κεφαλαιωδεστέρων ἐντολῶν χρεία, ἐν αἷς πᾶσα ἀλή θεια τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ ἀγαπῆς