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having no proof of darkness. And our soul will rejoice in God our Savior; rejoicing both in the putting off of the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and in the putting on of the temple created according to God in the spirit. For our God will clothe us with a garment of salvation, and a tunic of gladness; that is, the habitual ethical practice of philosophy through the virtues, and the unerring spiritual Gnostic contemplation, so that we may also enjoy the initial goods of the future divine and undefiled bridal chamber. Upon all these things, carefully considering how we walk, and what we resolve concerning ourselves; knowing that many invisible witnesses are present at the things done by us, looking not only at what is seen, but stooping down to our very souls, and examining the hidden things of the heart.

For truly, many choirs of angelic Powers surround us from all sides, the things done and said by 15Β_034 us, and thought, even to a mere passing thought, recording in heaven with all accuracy, for our conviction on the terrible day of judgment; when all the visible creation, being shaken with an ineffable urgency, is pressed toward its own consummation; and heaven and earth will pass away with a rushing noise; and the elements in between, being burned, will be dissolved; and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and the things that go with them. When thrones are set, and the Ancient of Days takes his seat, and books are opened, containing the faithful and unadulterated records of our works and words and thoughts; and a thousand thousands of angels minister to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him; and a dreadful threat of burning fire running everywhere, and enveloping all things around, and melting the mountains like wax. For a river of fire, he says, was flowing before him. When Tartarus, and a vast and indescribable pit, and the outer darkness, and the unsleeping worm are shown to be present; and over them fear stood suspended through all who were awaiting the outcome; 0381 and angels of wrath, flashing with punishing fire, and looking fire, and breathing fire, stand ready for every vengeance of all lawlessness. And in addition to these, all creation, earthly and heavenly, both among angels, and the powers above the angels, and among men, stands by with trembling, awaiting the terrible manifestation of the divine will; before all of whom, all our deeds will be read aloud, and the hidden things will be laid bare; so that all will know the sins of one another as each knows his own, reading unerringly the book of his own conscience. For I will convict you, he says, and I will set your sins before your face. And again: Their own counsels will encircle them.

And behold, a man and his work, and an unerring judge, having present the terrible and majestic 15Β_036 power of the heavenly orders, sits enthroned on high, flashing forth all justice, and assigning to each what is worthy through a true and just sentence; to those on the right, because of their good deeds, gently giving the kingdom of heaven prepared from the foundation of the world; but those who received their station on the left because of their lack of good works, thrusting away with wrath into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Who will bear that raging fire? Who will not shrink from the strange sight of that worm? Who will be able to bear the swiftness and heaviness of that outer darkness? Who will withstand Tartarus roaring, and the abyss boiling up with it from the bottom? Who of those appointed for this

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μηδέν σκότους τεκμήριον ἔχοντας. Καί ἡ ψυχή ἡμῶν ἀγαλλιάσεται ἐπί τῷ Θεῷ τῷ Σωτῆρι ἡμῶν· χαίρουσα ἐπί τε τῇ ἀπεκδύσει τοῦ παλαιοῦ ἀνθρώπου, τοῦ φθειρομένου κατά τάς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης· καί τῇ ἐπενδύσει τοῦ ναοῦ τοῦ κατά Θεόν κτισθέντος ἐν πνεύματι. Ἐνδύσει γάρ ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεός ἡμῶν ἱμάτιον σωτηρίου, καί χιτῶνα εὐφροσύνης· τουτέστι τήν ἑκτικήν κατ᾿ ἦθος διά τῶν ἀρετῶν φιλόσοφον πρᾶξιν, καί τήν ἄπταιστον ἐν πνεύματι γνωστικήν θεωρίαν, ἵνα καί τῶν μελλόντων τοῦ θείου καί ἀκηράτου νυμφῶνος ἀρχικῶν ἀπολαύσωμεν ἀγαθῶν. Ἐπί τούτοις πᾶσιν ἀκριβῶς σκοποῦντες πῶς περιπατοῦμεν, καί τί περί ἑαυτῶν βουλευόμεθα· πολλούς γινώσκοντες τοῖς παρ᾿ ἡμῶν γινομένοις ἀοράτους παρίστασθαι μάρτυρας, οὐκ εἰς τό φαινόμενον βλέποντας μόνον, ἀλλ᾿ εἰς αὐτάς παρακύπτοντας τάς ψυχάς, καί τό κρυπτόν, διελέγχοντας τῆς καρδίας.

Πολλοί γάρ, ὡς ἀληθῶς, χοροί πανταχόθεν ἀγγελικῶν ∆υνάμεων ἡμᾶς περιεστήκασι, τά γινόμενά τε καί λεγόμενα παρ᾿ 15Β_034 ἡμῶν, καί νοούμενα, μέχρι καί ψιλῆς ἐνθυμήσεως, δι᾿ ἀκριβείας πάσης ἐν οὐρανῷ καταγράφοντες, πρός ἔλεγχον ἡμῶν ἐν τῇ φοβερᾷ ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως· ὅτε πᾶσα τῶν ὁρατῶν ἡ κτίσις κλονουμένη κατ᾿ ἔπειξιν ἄφατον πρός τήν οἰκείαν ὠθεῖται συντέλειαν· καί οὐρανός καί γῆ ῥοιζηδόν παρελεύσονται· καί τά διά μέσου στοιχεῖα καυσούμενα λυθήσεται· καί ἔσται οὐρανός καινός καί γῆ καινή, καί τά ἐπί τούτοις. Ἡνίκα θρόνοι προτίθενται, καί Παλαιός ἡμερῶν προκαθέζεται, καί βίβλοι ἀνοίγονται, τῶν ἡμετέρων ἔργων τε καί λόγων καί νοημάτων τά ἔγγραφα πιστῶν τε καί ἀνοθεύτως ἔχουσαι· χίλιαί τε χιλιάδες ἀγγέλων λειτουργοῦσιν αὐτῷ, καί μυρίαι μυριάδες αὐτῷ παρεστήκασι· καί ἀπειλή φρικώδης αἰθομένου (καιομένου) πυρός πανταχοῦ διατρέχουσα, καί τά κύκλῳ πάντα περιλαμβάνουσα, καί ὄρη ὡσεί κηρόν ἐκτήκουσα. Ποταμός γάρ πυρός, φησίν, εἶλκεν ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ. Ἡνίκα τάρταρος, καί βόθρος ἀχανής καί ἀνείκαστος, καί σκότος ἐξώτερον, καί σκώληξ ἀκοίμητος ἀναδειχθῶσι παρόντα· καί ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς φόβος εἰστήκει διά πάντων μετέωρος ἐκδεχομένων τήν ἔκβασιν· 0381 καί ὁργῆς ἄγγελοι κολαστικόν πῦρ ἀποστίλβοντες, πῦρ δέ βλέποντες, καί πῦρ ἀναπνέοντες, ἕτοιμοι πρός πᾶσαν ἐκδίκησιν πάσης παρανομίας ἐστήκασι. Πᾶσά τε πρός τούτοις κτίσις ἐπίγειός τε καί ἐπουράνιος, ὅση τε ἐν ἀγγέλοις, καί ταῖς ὑπέρ ἀγγέλους δυνάμεσι, καί ὅση ἀνθρώποις, παρίσταται μετά τρόμου τήν φοβεράν τῆς θείας βουλῆς ἐκδεχομένη φανέρωσιν· ἐφ᾿ ὧν ἁπάντων, αἱ πάντων ἡμῶν ἀναγνωσθήσονται πράξεις, καί τῶν κρυπτῶν ἡ γύμνωσις γενήσεται· ὥστε πάντας οὕτως γινώσκειν ἀλλήλων τάς ἁμαρτίας, ὡς ἕκαστος τάς ἑαυτοῦ, τήν βίβλον ἁπλανῶς ἀναγινώσκων τῆς ἑαυτοῦ συνειδήσεως. Ἐλέγξω γάρ σε, φησί, καί παραστήσω κατά πρόσωπόν σου τάς ἁμαρτίας σου. Καί πάλιν· Κυκλώσει αὐτούς τά διαβούλια αὐτῶν.

Καί ἰδού ἄνθρωπος καί τό ἔργον αὐτοῦ, καί δικαστής ἀπαραλόγιστος, παρισταμένην ἔχων τήν φοβεράν καί μεγαλοπρεπῆ 15Β_036 τῶν οὐρανίων ταγμάτων δύναμιν, ὑψηλός προκαθέζεται, πᾶσαν ἀπαστράπτων δικαιοσύνην, καί ἑκάστῳ δι᾿ ἀποφάσεως ἀληθοῦς καί δικαίας ἀπονέμων τά πρός ἀξίαν· τοῖς μέν ἐκ δεξιῶν διά τάς καλάς πράξεις σταθεῖσιν, μειλιχίως τήν ἡτοιμασμένην ἀπό καταβολῆς κόσμου τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείαν διδούς· τούς δέ τήν ἐξ εὐωνύμων διά τήν ἐρημίαν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων στάσιν λαχόντας, εἰς τό αἰώνιον πῦρ, τό ἡτοιμασμένον τῷ διαβόλῳ καί τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ, μετ᾿ ὁργῆς ἀπωθούμενος. Τίς ἐκεῖνο τό πῦρ ἐνέγκει μαινόμενον; Τίς οὐ καταπτήσει τό ξένον ἐκείνου τοῦ σκώληκος θέαμα; Τίς τοῦ σκότους ἐκείνου τοῦ ἐξωτέρου τό ταχύ τε ὁμοῦ καί βαρύ φέρειν δυνήσεται; Τίς μυκώμενον τό τάρταρον, καί ἐκ πυθμένος αὐτῷ συναναβρασσομένην τήν ἄβυσσον ὑποστήσεται; Τίς τῶν ἐπί τούτῳ τεταγμένων