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a book will be opened for us on the day of revelation. Small and great are there, and the servant together with the master, I will quote the saying of Solomon, and the king with the subject, and the one who enrolls with the one who is enrolled, and the splendor is near. And I will be silent about what is ill-omened; yet such things as we write, such things will also be written of us. Make this entry for yourself more excellent, by appearing to us kind and humane.

16. What do you say to these things? What do you write, O best of friends and peers and sharer with us of teachers and of studies, even if God has now appointed us to the better lot, to teach these things to you who are in authority (for I hesitate to say a harsher word)? O you of a pious fatherland and race, O sacred plant of sacred parents, O root of more sacred children, how do you receive my words? Do we persuade you at all, or will it be necessary to charm you with longer spells? This one must not conjecture, but know well, that my words have long since possessed you. For even if we had nothing else to trust in, we trust in the words themselves, which always easily lead you to what is good, whether beginning or following; for this is how the wise differ from the many. But I will add a little more to what has been said; you have given a reward to my words, whatever you have given; but they give and bring to you the poor, a whole choir of priests, a choir of philosophers, held down by no bond below, possessing only their bodies, and not even these completely; having nothing for Caesar, everything for God, hymns, prayers, vigils, tears, 35.1064 a possession not possessed, to die to the world, to live for Christ, to empty the flesh, to draw the soul from the body. By sparing these, or rather by purely giving back to God the servants and initiates of God, and the witnesses of heavenly things, the first-fruits of our race, the support, the crowns of the faith, the precious pearls, the stones of the temple, of which Christ is the foundation and cornerstone, I mean of the fair pleroma of the Church; you would take the best counsel both for them, and for yourself, and for all of us. And I pray that this wealth may be yours from us, rather than treasures of much gold and silver, which exist now, and after a little while will not be.

17. This is the fruit of my words for you, although less than my hope, yet according to our ability. But may you give me in return for my contribution the greater thing, your ready obedience; so that in other things also you may have less need of my words, considering one another to provoke unto love and good works; so that having obtained a kind and humane entry there, and dancing around the King of all, which is the only work for those written there, we may offer to God the service of praise, the one praise of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, while contemplating and exalting the glory and splendor of the Godhead, for to him is the glory, and the honor, and the worship for ever and ever. Amen.

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γήσεται ἡμῖν βίβλος ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἀποκαλύψεως. Μικρὸς μὲν καὶ μέγας ἐκεῖ ἐστι, καὶ θεράπων ὁμοῦ δεσπότῃ, τὸ Σολομῶντος φθέγξομαι, καὶ βασιλεὺς ἀρχο μένῳ, καὶ ἀπογραφεὺς ἀπογραφομένῳ, καὶ ἡ λαμπρότης ἐγγύθεν. Καὶ τὸ δύσφημον σιωπήσομαι· πλὴν οἷα γράφομεν, τοιαῦτα καὶ γραφησόμεθα. Ταύ την ποίησον σεαυτῷ τὴν ἐγγραφὴν χρηστοτέραν, ἡμῖν φανεὶς χρηστὸς καὶ φιλάνθρωπος.

Ι ςʹ. Τί πρὸς ταῦτα λέγεις; Τί γράφεις, ὦ φίλων ἄριστε καὶ ἡλίκων καὶ παιδευτῶν ἡμῖν κοινωνὲ καὶ παιδευμάτων, εἰ καὶ νῦν ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν κρείττω μοῖ ραν ὁ Θεὸς ἔταξεν, ὑμᾶς ταῦτα παιδεύειν τοὺς ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ (ὀκνῶ γὰρ εἰπεῖν βαρυτέραν); Ὦ πατρίδος εὐσεβοῦς καὶ γένους, ὦ γονέων ἱερῶν ἱερὸν φυ τὸν, ὦ ῥίζα τέκνων ἱερωτέρων, πῶς ποτε ἀπο δέχῃ τοὺς ἐμοὺς λόγους; Ἆρά τι πείθομεν, ἢ δεήσει κατεπᾴδειν μακρότερα; Τοῦτο μὲν οὐκ εἰκάζειν, ἀλλ' εὖ εἰδέναι χρὴ, ὅτι σε οἱ παρ' ἐμοῦ λόγοι ἐκ πλείονος ἔχουσιν. Καὶ γὰρ εἰ μή τινι ἄλλῳ θαῤῥεῖν εἴχομεν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς λόγοις αὐτοῖς, οἵ σε ἀεὶ πρὸς τὰ καλὰ ῥᾳδίως ἄγουσιν, ἢ ἀρχόμενον, ἢ ἑπόμενον· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν, ᾧ τῶν πολλῶν οἱ σοφοὶ διαφέρουσιν. Ἐγὼ δὲ μικρὸν ἔτι προσθήσω τοῖς εἰρημένοις· σὺ μὲν ἔδωκας μισθὸν τοῖς ἐμοῖς λόγοις, ὅντινα δέδωκας· οἱ δέ σοι διδόασι καὶ προσάγουσι πένητας, πάντα χορὸν ἱερέων, χορὸν φιλοσόφων, οὐδενὶ δεσμῷ κάτω κατεχομένων, μόνα κεκτημένων τὰ σώματα, καὶ οὐδ' αὐτὰ παντελῶς· οὐδὲν ἐχόντων Καίσαρι, πάντα Θεῷ, ὕμνους, εὐχὰς, ἀγρυπνίας, δάκρυα, 35.1064 κτῆσιν οὐ κρατουμένην, ἀποθανεῖν κόσμῳ, ζῆσαι Χριστῷ, σάρκα κενῶσαι, ψυχὴν ἑλκῦσαι ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος. Τούτων φειδόμενος, ἢ καὶ καθαρῶς ἀποδιδοὺς τῷ Θεῷ τοὺς θεραπευτὰς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ μύστας, καὶ τῶν οὐρανίων ἐπόπτας, τὴν ἀπαρχὴν τοῦ ἡμετέρου γένους, τὸ ἔρεισμα τοὺς τῆς πίστεως στεφάνους, τοὺς μαργαρίτας τοὺς τιμίους, τοὺς τοῦ ναοῦ λίθους, οὗ θεμέλιος καὶ ἀκρογωνιαῖος Χριστὸς, τοῦ καλοῦ λέγω τῆς Ἐκκλησίας πληρώματος· καὶ κάλλιστα ἂν καὶ τούτοις, καὶ σεαυτῷ, καὶ πᾶσιν ἡμῖν βουλεύσαιο. Καί σοι εὔχομαι τοῦτον παρ' ἡμῶν τὸν πλοῦτον γενέσθαι μᾶλλον, ἢ πολλοῦ χρυσίου καὶ ἀργυρίου θησαυροὺς, νῦν ὑπάρχοντας, καὶ μετ' ὀλίγον οὐκ ἐσομένους.

ΙΖʹ. Αὕτη τῶν ἐμῶν λόγων ὑμῖν ἡ καρποφορία, εἰ καὶ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐλάττων, ἀλλὰ κατά γε τὴν ἡμετέραν δύναμιν. Ὑμεῖς δὲ ἀντιδοίητέ μοι τῆς ἐμῆς εἰσφορᾶς τὸ μεῖζον, τὴν εὐπείθειαν· ὡς ἂν τά τε ἄλλα καὶ ἧττον δέησθε τῶν ἐμῶν λόγων, ἀλλήλους κατανοοῦντες εἰς παροξυσμὸν ἀγάπης καὶ καλῶν ἔργων· ὡς ἂν χρηστῆς καὶ φιλανθρώπου τῆς ἐκεῖθεν γραφῆς τυχόντες, καὶ περὶ τὸν πάντων βασιλέα χορεύοντες, ὃ μόνον ἔργον ἐστὶ τοῖς ἐκεῖ γεγραμμένοις, λειτουργῶμεν Θεῷ τὴν αἴνεσιν, τὴν μίαν Πατρὸς, καὶ Υἱοῦ, καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, καὶ θεωροῦντες καὶ ἀνυψοῦντες τὴν τῆς θεότητος δόξαν τε καὶ λαμπρότητα, ὅτι αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα, καὶ ἡ τιμὴ, καὶ ἡ προσκύνησις εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.