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you have snatched the spoil from them. And to speak concisely, you feed the hungry, and give drink to the thirsty, and you shelter strangers, and you clothe the naked, and you visit the sick, and you minister to those in prison; or rather, through all these things you are well-pleasing to God; for whose sake you judged it more glorious than all things to readily assist all these. For this reason God has rightly guarded you, and his lamp shines above your head; that is, the law of the commandments is brilliantly manifested in you to all through the practice of the virtues; and by its light you walk in darkness; that is, by the knowledge of the pious contemplation of existing things, you pass unharmed through the deceit of this age and its ignorance, hastening towards the shadowless light. For to you alone in truth, beloved, beyond all men, did it belong not to corrupt virtue by the weight of authority, nor to subordinate the law of Christ in any way to gold; but so to subject power to virtue, that you are known by virtue and reason alone, I say; and to become renowned to all everywhere for the glory of your righteousness.

But if, naturally shunning what is hard for the flesh, we think to procure its comfort through power, let us know that comfort of the flesh was invented 15Β_026 in life by the transgression of the divine commandment, and man, preferring the temporal to the eternal, introduced it; but the hardship of the flesh, the observance of the divine commandment, and God, for this reason becoming man, both demonstrated and legislated through himself; and that the one is the cause of alienation for men from paradise and the goods therein; but the other is the agent of the return to paradise, and of the ascension into the heavens; and what is most wondrous of all, 0376 of intimacy with God. And for this reason, let us by all means hold fast to the hardship of the flesh, as it is an instrument of divine grace, not changing with the times and circumstances; but let us completely disregard the comfort of the flesh, as something to be spat upon, that will certainly be dissolved, and will suffer its due, and does not overstep its own bounds, as the divine mouth of Christ, Gregory, said; and as productive of all the soul's blemishes; so that we may become wholly God's and his alone, through all the movements of both soul and body, flashing forth the divine rays. And, to speak simply, that we may become capable of receiving the whole God, and wholly gods through and through by grace; so much so, that we are considered to be another him in all things; apart from identity with him in essence; for this is perfection, to bear absolutely no mark of this age in ourselves; lest on that account some deprivation of the divine state should befall us, and we should be bitterly pained at the blemish on our true integrity; and should not find the means of correction.

When the age of actions has passed for us, nothing at all of present things remains as it is now, in form and position, Nothing of things seen is trustworthy and inviolable for those who possess it. Nothing stands firm for long, remaining unmoved for those overcome by it; not glory, not wealth, not power, not health, 15Β_028 not dishonor, not poverty, not slavery, not sickness, not beauty, not youth, not distinction, not ugliness, not old age, not low birth; all things pass away, all things wither, all human things vanish like a shadow, and all the pomp of human power is more easily dispersed than a bubble. For, he says, all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withered, and the flower fell. For in truth all human things have corruption joined to their generation in potentiality; and often in some cases corruption even precedes generation; so that the middle can be stolen away by the simultaneous coming together of the extremes(6),

5

αὐτῶν ἐξέσπασας ἅρπαγμα. Καί συνελόντα φάναι, πεινῶντας διατρέφεις, καί διψῶντας ποτίζεις, καί ξένους περιστέλλεις, καί γυμνούς περιβάλλεις, καί ἀσθενοῦντας ἐπισκέπτῃ, καί τοῖς ἐν φυλακαῖς διακονεῖς· μᾶλλον δέ, Θεῷ διά πάντων τούτων εὐαρεστεῖς· δι᾿ ὅν πᾶσι τούτοις προθύμως ἐπαρκεῖν, πάντων ἐπιδοξότερον ἔκρινας. ∆ιά τοῦτό σε δικαίως ἐφύλαξεν ὁ Θεός, καί ὁ λύχνος αὐτοῦ λάμπει ὑπέρ κεφαλῆς σου· τουτέστιν, ὁ νόμος τῶν ἐντολῶν τῇ πράξει τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐπί σοί πᾶσι λαμπρῶς διαφαίνεται· καί τῷ φωτί αὐτοῦ πορεύῃ ἐν σκότει· τουτέστι, τῇ γνώσει τῆς τῶν ὄντων εὐσεβοῦς θεωρίας, τήν ἀπάτην τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου καί τήν ἄγνοιαν ἀβλαβῶς διοδεύεις, πρός τό ἄσκιον φῶς ἐπειγόμενος. Σοί γάρ μόνῳ κατά ἀλήθειαν ὑπῆρξε παρά πάντας ἀνθρώπους, ἠγαπημένε, τῷ τῆς ἀρχῆς ὄγκῳ μή διαφθεῖραι τήν ἀρετήν, μηδέ τῷ χρυσῷ τόν τοῦ Χριστοῦ καθοτιοῦν ὑποκλῖναι νόμον· ἀλλά τοσοῦτον τῇ ἀρετῇ δουλῶσαι τήν ἐξουσίαν, ὥστε καί ἀπό μόνον ἀρετῆς τέ φημι καί λόγου, γνωρίζεσθαι· καί πᾶσι πανταχοῦ γενέσθαι διά τό κλέος τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἐξάκουστον.

Εἰ δέ τό κατά σάρκα δυσπαθές ὡς εἰκός παραιτούμενοι, τήν ταύτης νομίζομεν περιποιεῖσθαι διά τῆς ἐξουσίας εὐπάθειαν, γνῶμεν, ὡς τήν μέν εὐπάθειαν τῆς σαρκός, θείας ἐντολῆς ἐφεῦρε 15Β_026 τῷ βίῳ παράβασις, καί ἄνθρωπος τῶν αἰωνίων τά πρόσκαιρα προτιμήσας εἰσήγαγε· τήν δέ τῆς σαρκός δυσπάθειαν, θείας ἐντολῆς τήρησις, καί Θεός διά τοῦτο γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ παρέδειξέ τε καί ἐνομοθέτησε· καί τήν μέν εἶναι τῆς τοῦ παραδείσου καί τῶν ἐκεῖσε ἀγαθῶν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀποξενώσεως αἰτίαν· τήν δέ τῆς εἰς τόν παράδεισον ἐπαναγωγῆς, καί τῆς εἰς οὐρανούς ἀναλήψεως· καί τό δή πάντων θαυμασιώτερον 0376 τῆς πρός Θεόν οἰκειώσεως πρόξενον. Καί διά τοῦτο τῆς μέν σαρκικῆς δυσπαθείας, ὡς θείας ὀργάνου χάριτος ὑπαρχούσης, μέχρι πάντως ἀνθεξώμεθα, μή συμμεταβαλλόμενοι τοῖς καιροῖς καί τοῖς πράγμασι· τῆς δέ τῆς σαρκός εὐπαθείας παντελῶς ἀλογήσωμεν, ὡς ἀποπτύστου, καί πάντως λυθησομένης, καί πεισομένης τό ἑαυτῆς, καί τούς ἰδίους ὅρους οὐχ ὑπερβαινούσης, ὡς τό θεῖον ἔφη τοῦ Χριστοῦ στόμα Γρηγόριος· καί ὡς πάντων τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς στιγμάτων ποιητικῆς· ἵνα ὅλοι γενώμεθα τοῦ Θεοῦ καί μόνου, διά πάντων τῶν τε ψυχικῶν καί σωματικῶν κινημάτων, τάς θείας αὐγάς ἀπαστράπτοντες. Καί ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ὅλου Θεοῦ χωρητικοί, καί ὅλοι δι᾿ ὅλου θεοί κατά χάριν γενώμεθα· τοσοῦτον, ὥστε ἄλλον αὐτόν ἡμᾶς εἶναι διά πάντων νομίζεσθαι· χωρίς τῆς πρός αὐτόν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ταυτότητος· τοῦτο γάρ ἡ τελείωσις, μηδέν τό παράπαν ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου γνώρισμα φέροντες· ἵνα μή δι᾿ ἐκεῖνο κατά τι στέρησις ἡμῖν τῆς θείας ἕξεως γένηται, καί πικρῶς μέν ὀδυνηθῶμεν ἐπί τῷ μώμῳ τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἀρτιότητος· τῆς δέ διορθώσεως τάς ἀφορμάς οὐχ εὑρήσωμεν.

Τοῦ αἰῶνος ἡμῖν ἀπογενομένου τῶν πράξεων, οὐδέν μένει τό σύνολον τῶν παρόντων ὡς ἔχει νῦν, σχήματός τε καί θέσεως, Οὐδέν τῶν ὁρωμένων τό πιστόν ἔχει τοῖς κεκτημένοις, καί ἄπτωτον. Οὐδέν διαρκῶς ἔστηκε τοῖς ἡττημένοις αὐτῷ προσδιαμένον ἀκίνητον· οὐ δόξα, οὐ πλοῦτος, οὐ δυναστεία, οὐχ ὑγεία, 15Β_028 οὐκ ἀδοξία, οὐ πενία, οὐ δουλεία, οὐ νόσος, οὐ κάλλος, οὐ νεότης, οὐ περιφανεία, οὐκ ἀμορφία, οὐ γῆρας οὐ δυσγένεια· πάντα παρέρχεται, πάντα μαραίνεται, πάντα σκιᾶς δίκην ἀφανίζεται τά ἀνθρώπινα, καί πομφόλυγος εὐδιαπνευστότερός ἐστι, πᾶς ὁ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης συναστείας ὄγκος. Πᾶς γάρ ἄνθρωπος, φησί, χόρτος, καί πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου· ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος, καί τό ἄνθος ἐξέπεσε. Πάντα γάρ ὡς ἀληθῶς τά ἀνθρώπινα, συνημμένην ἔχει κατά δύναμιν τήν φθοράν τῇ γενέσει· πολλάκις δέ καί προηγουμένην ἐπ᾿ ἐνίων τῆς γενέσεως τήν φθοράν· ὡς δύνασθαι κλαπῆναι τῇ κατά τό αὐτό τῶν ἄκρων πρός ἄλληλα συνόδῳ τό μέσον(6),