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in each generation, as he says: Take as an example, brothers, of suffering and of patience, the prophets, who spoke the word in the name of the Lord. But also this one who has now set this contest before us. and assembled the present spiritual theater, I mean Paul, after he recounted those countless hardships of each of the saints, which it is not even easy now to recount in order, he adds, saying: They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, and in all these things rejoicing. One might see this very thing, when, after the imprisonment and the insults, having been flogged they were driven away, what does it say? So they went rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were counted worthy to be dishonored for the name of Christ. 4. But indeed these things have also happened in our time; and if anyone wishes, let him consider what I am saying, what sort of things happened in the time of the persecutions. A tender and unwed virgin entered, having a body softer than wax; then, having been nailed to the wood from all sides, her sides were dug out, being scraped, and she was drenched in blood, and as if being wed rather, and sitting in a bridal chamber, so with goodwill she bore what was happening for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, being crowned in the very contests. Consider how great it was to see a tyrant with armies and sharpened swords and so many weapons being conquered by a single girl. Do you see that even affliction itself has a very great boast? And you bear witness to what is said. For the martyrs have not yet received their rewards, nor the prizes and the crowns, but having been dissolved into dust and ashes, with all eagerness we run together to their honors, and we assemble a spiritual theater, and we proclaim them, and we crown them both for the wounds and the blood, for the tortures and the blows, for those afflictions and hardships; so even the afflictions themselves have a boast even before the reward. Consider how great Paul was then, inhabiting prisons, and being brought into courts, how admired, how brilliant, and renowned he appeared to all, but especially by those by whom he was warred against and plotted against. And why do I say, admired by men, when indeed he was then more fearsome even to demons, when he was being flogged? When he was bound, when he was shipwrecked, then he worked the greatest signs, then he more greatly overcame the opposing powers. Knowing well, therefore, the gain accruing to the soul from these afflictions, he said: When I am weak, then I am strong; then he adds: Therefore I am well pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, 51.163 in sufferings, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For this reason also, to some living in Corinth, and addressing these who were high-minded about themselves, and looked down upon the rest, setting out the character of the Epistle, he was compelled from this to compose for us the image of his own achievements, and this not from the signs, not from the miracles, not from the honor, not from the rest, but from the prisons, and the courts, and the hunger, and the cold, and the wars, and the plots, saying thus to them: Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more; and showing the 'more,' and the superiority, he says: In labors more abundantly, in stripes beyond measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often, and the rest; If I must boast, I will boast of the things of my weakness. Do you see him boasting more greatly in these things, than priding himself on brilliant crowns, and for this reason saying: Not only so, but we also glory in tribulations? And what is the 'Not only so'? Not only, he says, do we not lose heart when afflicted and

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ἐφ' ἑκάστης γενεᾶς, ὥς φησιν· Ὑπόδειγμα λάβετε, ἀδελφοὶ, τῆς κακοπαθείας καὶ τῆς ὑπομονῆς, τοὺς προφήτας, οἱ ἐλάλησαν τὸν λόγον ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ οὗτος ὁ νῦν ἡμῖν τὸν ἀγῶνα τοῦτον προτείνας. καὶ τὸ παρὸν πνευματικὸν θέατρον συγκροτήσας, Παῦλον λέγω, μετὰ τὸ τὰς μυρίας αὐτὸν ἐκείνας ἑκάστου τῶν ἁγίων καταλέξαι ταλαιπωρίας, ἃς μηδὲ ῥᾴδιον νῦν κατὰ λόγον διεξιέναι, ἐπάγει λέγων· Περιῆλθον ἐν μηλωταῖς, ἐν αἰγείοις δέρμασιν, ὑστερούμενοι, θλιβόμενοι, κακουχούμενοι, ὧν οὐκ ἦν ἄξιος ὁ κόσμος, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις πᾶσιν ἀγαλλόμενοι. Τοῦτο δὲ αὐτὸ ἴδοι τις ἂν, ὅτε μετὰ τὴν φυλακὴν καὶ τὰς λοιδορίας μαστιχθέντες ἀπηλαύνοντο, τί φησιν; Οἱ μὲν οὖν ἐπορεύοντο χαίροντες ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ συνεδρίου, ὅτι κατηξιώθησαν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀτιμασθῆναι. δʹ. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ ἡμῶν ταῦτα γέγονε· καὶ εἰ βούλοιτό τις, ἐνθυμηθήτω ὃ λέγω, ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῶν διωγμῶν οἷα συνέβαινεν. Εἰσῄει παρθένος ἁπαλὴ καὶ ἀπειρόγαμος, κηροῦ μαλακώτερον ἔχουσα σῶμα· εἶτα τῷ ξύλῳ προσηλωθεῖσα πάντοθεν, διωρύττετο τὰς πλευρὰς καταξεομένη, καὶ κατεῤῥεῖτο τῷ αἵματι, καὶ καθάπερ νυμφευομένη μᾶλλον καὶ ἐν παστάδι καθημένη, οὕτω μετ' εὐνοίας ἔφερε τὰ γινόμενα διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀγῶσι στεφανουμένη. Ἐννόησον ἡλίκον ἦν ἰδεῖν τύραννον μετὰ στρατοπέδων καὶ ξιφῶν ἠκονημένων καὶ ὅπλων τοσούτων ἀπὸ μιᾶς κόρης νικώμενον. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ θλίψις καύχησιν ἔχει μεγίστην; Καὶ μαρτυρεῖτε τοῖς λεγομένοις ὑμεῖς. Οὔπω γὰρ τῶν μαρτύρων ἀπολαβόντων τὰς ἀμοιβὰς, οὐδὲ τὰ βραβεῖα καὶ τοὺς στεφάνους, ἀλλ' εἰς κόνιν διαλυθέντων καὶ τέφραν, μετὰ πάσης προθυμίας συντρέχομεν εἰς τὰς ἐκείνων τιμὰς, καὶ θέατρον συγκροτοῦμεν πνευματικὸν, καὶ ἀνακηρύττομεν τούτους, καὶ στεφανοῦμεν αὐτοὺς διά τε τὰ τραύματα καὶ τὸ αἷμα, διὰ τὰς βασάνους καὶ τὰς πληγὰς, διὰ τὰς θλίψεις ἐκείνας καὶ τὰς στενοχωρίας· οὕτω καὶ αὐταὶ αἱ θλίψεις καύχημα ἔχουσι καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἀμοιβῆς. Ἐννόησον ἡλίκος ἦν ὁ Παῦλος τότε τὰ δεσμωτήρια οἰκῶν, καὶ εἰς δικαστήρια ἐπαγόμενος, πῶς περίβλεπτος, πῶς λαμπρὸς, καὶ περιφανὴς παρὰ πᾶσιν ἐφαίνετο, μάλιστα δὲ παρ' ὧν ἐπολεμεῖτο, καὶ ἐπεβουλεύετο. Καὶ τί λέγω, ἀνθρώποις περίβλεπτος, ὅπου γε καὶ τοῖς δαίμοσι τότε μᾶλλον ἦν φοβερὸς, ὅτε ἐμαστίζετο; Ὅτε δὲ ἐδεσμεῖτο, ὅτε ἐναυάγει, τότε τὰ μέγιστα εἰργάζετο σημεῖα, τότε μειζόνως περιεγένετο τῶν ἀντικειμένων δυνάμεων. Εἰδὼς οὖν καλῶς τὸ ἀπὸ τῶν θλίψεων τούτων προσγινόμενον τῇ ψυχῇ κέρδος, ἔλεγεν· Ὅταν ἀσθενῶ, τότε δυνατός εἰμι· εἶτα ἐπάγει· ∆ιὸ εὐδοκῶ ἐν ἀσθενείαις, ἐν ὕβρεσιν, ἐν ἀνάγκαις, ἐν διωγμοῖς, 51.163 ἐν παθήμασιν, ἵνα ἐπισκηνώσῃ ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ πρός τινας ἐν Κορίνθῳ διατρίβοντας, καὶ πρὸς τούτους ἀποτεινόμενος μεγαλοφρονοῦντας ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς, τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν καταψηφιζομένους, τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς Ἐπιστολῆς ἀπογράφων, ἀνάγκην ἔσχεν ἐντεῦθεν τῶν καθ' ἑαυτὸν κατορθωμάτων συνθεῖναι ἡμῖν τὴν εἰκόνα, καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν σημείων, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν θαυμάτων, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς τιμῆς, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνέσεως, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν δεσμωτηρίων, καὶ τῶν δικαστηρίων, καὶ τοῦ λιμοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ψύχους, καὶ τῶν πολέμων, καὶ τῶν ἐπιβουλῶν, οὕτω λέγων αὐτοῖς· ∆ιάκονοι Χριστοῦ εἰσι· παραφρονῶν λαλῶ, ὑπὲρ ἐγώ· καὶ δεικνὺς τὸ, Ὑπὲρ, καὶ τὴν ὑπεροχὴν, φησίν· Ἐν κόποις περισσοτέρως, ἐν πληγαῖς ὑπερβαλλόντως, ἐν φυλακαῖς περισσοτέρως, ἐν θανάτοις πολλάκις, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· Εἰ καυχᾶσθαι δεῖ, τὰ τῆς ἀσθενείας μου καυχήσομαι. Ὁρᾷς αὐτὸν ἐν τούτοις μᾶλλον μειζόνως καυχώμενον, ἢ ἐπὶ λαμπροῖς στεφάνοις ἐγκαλλωπιζόμενον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο λέγοντα· Οὐ μόνον δὲ, ἀλλὰ καὶ καυχώμεθα ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσι; Τί δέ ἐστι τὸ, Οὐ μόνον; Οὐ μόνον, φησὶν, οὐκ ἐκκακοῦμεν θλιβόμενοι καὶ