7

you have set foot upon the heavenly hope, investigate for me that land, which is not the inheritance of all, except if any through the meekness of their life 44.1212 are judged worthy of that promise; which it seems to me even the great David, who was testified to by divine Scripture as being meek and forbearing beyond all who sojourned in life at his time, had foreseen by the guidance of the Spirit, and had already through faith taken possession of what was hoped for, when he said, "I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." For I do not say that the Prophet called this land that produces all mortal things and dissolves back into itself every race that comes from it, "the land of the living"; but he knows a land of the living, on which death has not set foot; in which the path of sinners is not trodden, which has not received on itself a trace of evil, which the sower of tares has not cut with the plow of wickedness, a land barren of thistles and thorns; in which is the water of repose, and the place of green pasture, and the spring divided into four parts, and the vine cultivated by the God of all, and whatever else we hear through riddles from the divinely inspired teaching. If, then, we have understood the high land seen above the heavens, on which the city of the king is founded, concerning which glorious things were spoken, as the Prophet says, we would no longer be reasonably perplexed at the order of the sequence of the beatitudes. For it was not likely, I think, that this land would be set forth as a blessing in the hopes of those who will be caught up, as the Apostle says, in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus are to be always with the Lord. What need, then, is there any longer of the lower earth, for those whose life is on high in their hopes? For we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. But let us see for what virtue the inheritance of that land is set forth as a prize. For "Blessed," he says, "are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." What is meekness? And concerning what does the Word bless meekness? For it does not seem to me that we should consider everything that is done in meekness to be equally a virtue, if only the calm and slow were signified by this word. For among runners the meek is not better than the one who hurries, nor does the slow-moving one in boxing win the crown against his opponent; and when we run toward the prize of the upward call, Paul advises to increase speed, saying, "So run, that you may obtain it"; since he himself also, by ever more vigorous motion, pressed forward, forgetting what was behind; and when boxing he was agile; for he foresaw the attack of the one standing against him; and he was secure in his stance, and armed with his hands, he did not cast the weapon on his hands against some empty and unsubstantial thing, but he struck the vital parts of his opponent, delivering blows against his very body. Do you want to know Paul's boxing? See the scars of the contender, see the black eyes of the adversary, see the marks of the defeated. Surely 44.1213 you are not ignorant of the adversary who wrestles through the flesh, whom he pummels by his boxing, scratching with the nails of self-control, whose members he puts to death by hunger, and thirst, and cold, and nakedness, on whom he inflicts the marks of the Lord, whom he conquers by his running, leaving him behind himself, so that his sight might not be darkened by the adversary running before him. If, therefore, Paul is sharp and agile in the contests, and David widens his strides running against his enemies, and the bridegroom in the Song is likened to a gazelle for his agility, leaping over mountains, and bounding over hills (and many such things could be said, in which speed in motion is found to be preferable to meekness); how then here does the Word bless meekness as a form of right action? For "Blessed," he says, "are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth"; that land, surely, which is fertile with good produce, which is adorned with the tree of life, which is irrigated by the springs of spiritual gifts, on which the true vine sprouts, whose cultivator the

7

τῆς οὐρανίας ἐπέβης ἐλπίδος, ἐκείνην μοι πολυπραγμόνει τὴν γῆν, ἥτις οὐ πάντων ἐστὶ κληρονομία, πλὴν εἴ τινες διὰ τῆς τοῦ βίου πραότη 44.1212 τος ἄξιοι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἐκείνης κρίνονται· ἤν μοι δοκεῖ καὶ ὁ μέγας ∆αβὶδ, ὁ παρὰ πάντας τοὺς κατ' αὐτὸν ἐπιδεδημηκότας τῷ βίῳ πραΰς τε καὶ ἀνεξί κακος μαρτυρηθεὶς ὑπὸ τῆς θείας Γραφῆς, προνενοη κέναι τῇ ὑφηγήσει τοῦ Πνεύματος, καὶ διὰ πίστεως ἤδη κατεσχηκέναι τὸ ἐλπιζόμενον, εἰπὼν Πιστεύω τοῦ ἰδεῖν τὰ ἀγαθὰ Κυρίου ἐν γῇ ζώντων. Οὐ γάρ φημι τὸν Προφήτην, ταύτην ζώντων προσειρηκέναι τὴν γῆν τὰ θνητὰ πάντα φύουσαν, καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὴν πάλιν πᾶν τὸ ἐξ αὐτῆς γένος ἀναλύουσαν· ἀλλ' οἶδε γῆν ζώντων, ἧς οὐκ ἐπέβη θάνατος· ἐν ᾗ ὁδὸς ἁμαρ τωλῶν οὐκ ἐτρίβη, ἣ κακίας ἴχνος ἐφ' ἑαυτῆς οὐκ ἐδέξατο, ἣν οὐκ ἀνέτεμε τῷ ἀρότρῳ τῆς πονηρίας ὁ τὰ ζιζάνια σπείρων, ἡ τριβόλων καὶ ἀκανθῶν ἄγονος· ἐν ᾗ τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς ἀναπαύσεως, καὶ ὁ τῆς χλόης τόπος, καὶ ἡ τετραχῆ μεριζομένη πηγὴ, καὶ ἡ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων γεωργουμένη ἄμπελος, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα δι' αἰνιγμάτων παρὰ τῆς θεοπνεύστου δι δασκαλίας ἀκούομεν. Εἰ δὴ νενόηται ἡμῖν ἡ ὑψηλὴ γῆ ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν θεωρουμένη, ἐφ' ἧς ἡ πό λις τοῦ βασιλέως συνῴκισται, περὶ ἧς τὰ δεδοξα σμένα ἐλαλήθη, καθώς φησιν ὁ Προφήτης, οὐκέτ' ἂν εἰκότως πρὸς τὴν τάξιν τῆς ἀκολουθίας τῶν μακαρι σμῶν ξενιζοίμεθα. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰκὸς ἦν, οἶμαι, ταύτην εὐλογίας προκεῖσθαι ταῖς ἐλπίσι τὴν γῆν τοῖς ἁρπα γησομένοις, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα, καὶ οὕτως μέλ λουσι πάντοτε σὺν Κυρίῳ ἔσεσθαι. Τίς οὖν ἔτι χρεία τῆς κάτω γῆς, οἷς ἡ ζωὴ μετάρσιος ἐν ἐλπίσιν ἐστίν; Ἁρπαγησόμεθα γὰρ ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ Κυ ρίου εἰς ἀέρα, καὶ οὕτως πάντοτε σὺν Κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα. Ἀλλ' ἴδωμεν τίνος ἀρετῆς γέρας ἡ ἐκείνης τῆς γῆς κληρονομία πρόκειται. Μακάριοι γὰρ, φησὶν, οἱ πραεῖς, ὅτι αὐτοὶ κληρονομήσουσι τὴν γῆν. Τί τὸ πρᾶον; καὶ περὶ τί τὸ πρᾶον μακαρίζει ὁ Λό γος; οὐ γάρ μοι δοκεῖ πάντα ἐπίσης ἀρετὴν οἴεσθαι δεῖν, ὅσα ἂν ἐν πραότητι γίνεται, εἰ τὸ ἠρεμαῖόν τε καὶ βραδὺ μόνον διὰ τῆς λέξεως ταύτης σημαίνοιτο. Οὔτε γὰρ ἐν δρομεῦσιν ὁ πρᾶος ἀμείνων τοῦ ἐπι σπεύδοντος, οὔτε ὁ δυσκίνητος ἐν πυκτικῇ τὸν κατὰ τοῦ ἐναντίου στέφανον αἴρεται· κἂν τρέχωμεν πρὸς τὸ βραβεῖον τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως, ἐπιτείνειν ὁ Παῦλος συμβουλεύει τὸ τάχος, λέγων· Οὕτω τρέχετε, ἵνα καταλάβητε· ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὸς διὰ σφοδροτέρας ἀεὶ τῆς κινήσεως τοῦ πρόσω εἴχετο, τῶν ὀπίσω λήθην ποιούμενος· καὶ πυκτεύων εὐκίνητος ἦν· διεώρα γὰρ τοῦ ἀνθεστῶτος τὴν προσβολήν· καὶ περὶ τὴν βάσιν ἀσφαλὴς ἦν, καὶ ταῖς χερσὶ καθωπλισμένος, οὐ κατὰ κενοῦ τινος καὶ ἀνυποστάτου διεῤῥίπτει τὸ περὶ τὰς χεῖρας ὅπλον, ἀλλὰ τῶν καιρίων τοῦ προσπαλαίοντος ἥπτετο, κατ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ σώματος τὰς πληγὰς φέρων. Βούλει γνῶναι τοῦ Παύλου τὴν πυκτικήν; Ἴδε τὰς ὠτειλὰς τοῦ ἀνταγωνιζομένου, ἴδε τὰ ὑπώπια τοῦ ἀντιπάλου, ἴδε τὰ στίγματα τοῦ ἡττηθέντος Πάντως 44.1213 δὲ οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς τὸν ἀντίπαλον τὸν διὰ τῆς σαρκὸς προσπαλαίοντα, ὃν ὑπωπιάζει διὰ τῆς πυκτικῆς, ἀμύσσων τοῖς ὄνυξι τῆς ἐγκρατείας, οὗ νεκροῖ τὰ μέλη λιμῷ, καὶ δίψει, καὶ ψύχει, καὶ γυμνότητι, ᾧ τὰ στίγματα τοῦ Κυρίου ἐπιβάλλει, ὃν νικᾷ διὰ τοῦ δρόμου κατόπιν ἑαυτοῦ καταλιπὼν, ὡς ἂν μὴ ἐπισκο τοῖτο τὰς ὄψεις τοῦ ἀντιπάλου προτρέχοντος. Εἰ οὖν ὀξὺς καὶ εὐκίνητος ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσιν ὁ Παῦλος, καὶ ὁ ∆αβὶδ πλατύνει τὰ διαβήματα τοῖς ἐχθροῖς ἐπιτρέχων, καὶ ὁ νυμφίος ἐν τῷ Ἄσματι δορκάδι κατὰ τὸ εὐ κίνητον ὁμοιοῦται, ὄρη διαπηδῶν, καὶ βουνοῖς ἐφαλ λόμενος (καὶ πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ἐν οἷς προτιμότερον εὑρίσκεται τῆς πραότητος τὸ κατὰ τὴν κίνησιν τάχος)· πῶς ἐνταῦθα ἐν κατορθώματος εἴδει μακαρίζει τὸ πρᾶον ὁ Λόγος; Μακάριοι γὰρ, φησὶν, οἱ πραεῖς, ὅτι αὐτοὶ κληρονομήσουσι τὴν γῆν· ἐκείνην πάντως τὴν γῆν τὴν τῶν καλῶν εὔφορον γεννημάτων, τὴν τῷ ξύλῳ τῆς ζωῆς κομῶσαν, τὴν ταῖς πηγαῖς τῶν πνευματικῶν χαρισμάτων κατάῤῥυ τον, ἐφ' ἧς ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινὴ βλαστάνει, ἧς γεωργὸν τὸν