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of raging peoples, scorning every punishment, and remaining unterrified by wild beasts, and by iron, and by seas, and by cliffs, and by rebellions, and by plots, and by all dreadful things, what could be equal to this? For one who is untrained and has suffered nothing terrible is accustomed to be disturbed by even chance events; or rather not only the things themselves, but even bare expectations; and why do I say bare expectations? shadows frighten and terrify such a one; but he who has stripped himself of everything, and has entered the contests, and has suffered countless dreadful things, is thenceforth superior to all, laughing at those who threaten him, as at cawing jackdaws. And this is no small crown, nor a chance reward, when none of human things can grieve him, when things that are fearful to others become contemptible to him, when he is about to laugh at things over which others shudder and are beside themselves, having translated himself by the excess of his endurance into the philosophy of the angelic powers. For if we call blessed a body that can bear both cold and heat without pain, and hunger, and want, and journeying, and other hardships; much more ought we to call blessed a soul that can bear with fortitude and courage all the assaults of dreadful things, and preserve its spirit unenslaved through all. Such a one is more kingly than kings themselves. For both bodyguards and friends and enemies could greatly harm a king by plotting and working mischief, but one who has such a soul, as I have just now described, not a king, not a bodyguard, not a servant, not a friend, not an enemy, not the devil himself will be able to injure. For how, one who has trained himself to consider nothing of what is thought to be dreadful as dreadful? 4. Such was the blessed Paul; for this reason he said: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter; but in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Hinting at this here also he said, that Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day; the body becomes weaker, he says, but the soul more powerful and stronger, and is more winged. And just as a soldier having heavy weapons, even if he is very courageous and warlike, could not become fearsome to the enemies, the weight of the weapons impairing the swiftness of his feet and his experience in war; but if he took light and easy-to-handle ones, he goes against his adversaries like any bird; so also he who does not make his own flesh fat with drunkenness, nor with relaxation and luxury, but makes it lighter and more delicate with fasting and prayers, and with great endurance of tribulations, just as 50.424 some winged creature descending from above, so with great force falling into the phalanxes of demons, he easily brings down the opposing powers, and makes them subject. So also Paul, having received many stripes, and having been cast into prison, and bound in the stocks, had his body weaker, being worn out by labors, but his soul strong and vigorous; and so strong was the one who was bound, that by his voice alone he shook the foundations of the prison, and brought the unbound jailer as a captive to his own feet, and opened the locked doors. Therefore Paul has given us this no small comfort even before the resurrection, that we become better and more philosophical through temptations. For this reason he says: Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and

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μαινομένων δήμων, πάσης ὑπερορῶν τιμωρίας, καὶ πρὸς θηρία, καὶ πρὸς σίδηρον, καὶ πρὸς πελάγη, καὶ πρὸς κρημνοὺς, καὶ πρὸς ἐπαναστάσεις, καὶ πρὸς ἐπιβουλὰς, καὶ πρὸς ἅπαντα τὰ δεινὰ ἀκατάπληκτος μένων, οὗ τί γένοιτ' ἂν ἴσον; Τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἀγύμναστον καὶ μηδὲν παθόντα δεινὸν καὶ τὰ τυχόντα θορυβεῖν εἴωθε· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ αὐτὰ τὰ πράγματα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ προσδοκίαι ψιλαί· καὶ τί λέγω προσδοκίαι ψιλαί; αἱ σκιαὶ φοβοῦσι καὶ δεδίττουσι τὸν τοιοῦτον· ὁ δὲ ἀποδυσάμενος πάντα, καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐμβὰς, καὶ μυρία δεινὰ παθὼν, ἁπάντων λοιπόν ἐστιν ἀνώτερος, ὥσπερ κολοιῶν κραζόντων, οὕτω τῶν ἀπειλούντων καταγελῶν. Οὐ μικρὸς δὲ οὗτος ὁ στέφανος, οὐδὲ ὁ τυχὼν μισθὸς, ὅταν μηδὲν αὐτὸν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων δυνήσηται λυπεῖν, ὅταν τὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις φοβερὰ τούτῳ εὐκαταφρόνητα γίνηται, ὅταν ὑπὲρ ὧν ἄλλοι φρίττουσι καὶ ἐξίστανται, ὑπὲρ τούτων μέλλῃ γελᾷν αὐτὸς, τῇ τῆς ὑπομονῆς ὑπερβολῇ εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀγγελικῶν δυνάμεων φιλοσοφίαν ἑαυτὸν μεταστήσας. Εἰ γὰρ δὴ σῶμα μακαρίζομεν τὸ δυνάμενον καὶ ψῦχος καὶ καῦμα ἀλύπως φέρειν, καὶ λιμὸν, καὶ ἔνδειαν, καὶ ὁδοιπορίαν, καὶ ταλαιπωρίας ἑτέρας· πολλῷ μᾶλλον ψυχὴν μακαρίζειν δεῖ τὴν δυναμένην καρτερῶς καὶ γενναίως ἁπάσας τῶν δεινῶν φέρειν τὰς προσβολὰς, καὶ διατηρεῖν ἀδούλωτον αὑτῆς διὰ πάντων τὸ φρόνημα. Ὁ τοιοῦτος τῶν βασιλέων αὐτῶν ἐστι βασιλικώτερος. Ἐκεῖνον μὲν γὰρ καὶ δορυφόροι καὶ φίλοι καὶ ἐχθροὶ πολλὰ δύναιντ' ἂν ἀδικῆσαι ἐπιβουλεύοντες καὶ κακουργοῦντες τὸν δὲ τοιαύτην ἔχοντα ψυχὴν, οἵαν εἶπον νῦν, οὐ βασιλεὺς, οὐ δορυφόρος, οὐκ οἰκέτης, οὐ φίλος, οὐκ ἐχθρὸς, οὐκ αὐτὸς ὁ διάβολος παραβλάψαι δυνήσεται. Πῶς γὰρ, τὸν μελετήσαντα μηδὲν τῶν νομιζομένων εἶναι δεινῶν ἡγεῖσθαι δεινόν; δʹ. Τοιοῦτος ἦν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος· διὰ τοῦτο ἔλεγε· Τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ; θλῖψις, ἢ στενοχωρία, ἢ διωγμὸς, ἢ λιμὸς, ἢ γυμνότης, ἢ κίνδυνος, ἢ μάχαιρα; καθὼς γέγραπται, ὅτι ἕνεκεν σοῦ θανατούμεθα ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν, ἐλογίσθημεν ὡς πρόβατα σφαγῆς· ἀλλ' ἐν τούτοις πᾶσιν ὑπερνικῶμεν διὰ τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος ἡμᾶς. Τοῦτο δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα αἰνιττόμενος ἔλεγεν, ὅτι Εἰ καὶ ὁ ἔξω ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος διαφθείρεται, ἀλλ' ὁ ἔσω ἀνακαινοῦται ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ· ἀσθενέστερον τὸ σῶμα γίνεται, φησὶν, ἀλλὰ δυνατωτέρα ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ ἰσχυροτέρα, καὶ πτεροῦται μᾶλλον. Καὶ καθάπερ στρατιώτης βαρύνοντα μὲν ἔχων ὅπλα, κἂν σφόδρα γενναῖος ᾖ καὶ πολεμικὸς, οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο τοῖς πολεμίοις φοβερὸς, τῆς τῶν ὅπλων βαρύτητος τῇ τῶν ποδῶν ταχύτητι καὶ τῇ τῶν πολεμικῶν ἐμπειρίᾳ λυμαινομένης· εἰ δὲ κοῦφα λάβοι καὶ εὐμεταχείριστα, πτηνοῦ παντὸς δίκην ἐπέρχεται τοῖς ἐναντίοις· οὕτω καὶ ὁ τὴν σάρκα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ μὴ μέθῃ, μηδὲ ἀνέσει καὶ τρυφῇ καταλιπαίνων, ἀλλὰ νηστείαις καὶ εὐχαῖς, καὶ τῇ πολλῇ τῶν θλίψεων ὑπομονῇ κουφοτέραν καὶ λεπτοτέραν κατασκευάζων, καθάπερ 50.424 τις ὑπόπτερος ἄνωθεν καταβαίνων, οὕτω μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ῥύμης εἰς τὰς τῶν δαιμόνων ἐμπίπτων φάλαγγας, καταφέρει ῥᾳδίως τὰς ἀντικειμένας δυνάμεις, καὶ ὑποχειρίους ποιεῖ. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Παῦλος λαβὼν πολλὰς πληγὰς, καὶ εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον ἐμπεσὼν, καὶ ἐν τῷ ξύλῳ δεθεὶς, τὸ μὲν σῶμα ἀσθενέστερον εἶχε πόνοις κατατεινόμενον, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν ἰσχυρὰν καὶ εὔτονον· καὶ οὕτως ἦν ἰσχυρὸς ὁ δεδεμένος, ὡς διὰ φωνῆς μόνης σαλεῦσαι τὰ θεμέλια τοῦ δεσμωτηρίου, καὶ τὸν λελυμένον δεσμοφύλακα δέσμιον εἰς τοὺς πόδας ἀγαγεῖν τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ τὰς θύρας ἀποκεκλεισμένας ἀνοῖξαι. Οὐ μικρὰν οὖν ἡμῖν παραμυθίαν ἔδωκεν ὁ Παῦλος ταύτην καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως, τὸ βελτίους ἡμᾶς γίνεσθαι καὶ φιλοσοφωτέρους τοῖς πειρασμοῖς. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησιν· Ἡ θλῖψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται, ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ δοκιμὴν, ἡ δὲ