9

in words; a tongue benumbed by the passion, and not serving the inner impulses; lips frozen, and not articulating speech, nor containing in the mouth the moisture produced by the passion, but shamefully spitting out foam along with the voice; such are the hands; such are the feet; such is the entire disposition of the body, with each of the members being disposed along with the passion. If, then, one man were like this; but another, looking to the beatitude, should calm the disease through his reasonings, with a steady gaze and a quiet voice, just as some physician with his art heals one acting indecently out of madness; will you not yourself say, comparing this one with that one, that that beastly man is pitiful and abominable, but blessed is the gentle one who has not distorted his seemliness along with the evil of his neighbor? And that the Word looks especially to this passion, is clear from His legislating meekness for us after humility. For the one seems to follow the other, and the state of humility is like a mother of the gentle disposition. For if you were to remove pride from the character, the passion of anger has no occasion to arise. For insult and dishonor become the cause of such a sickness for those who are angered. But dishonor does not touch the one who has disciplined himself with humility. For if someone were to have his reasoning purified from human deceit, and were to see the nothingness of the nature to which he has been allotted, from what sort of beginning it has its constitution, and to what end it is borne—the short and swift-fated nature of life here, and the filth joined to the flesh, and the poverty of our nature, that it is not self-sufficient for its own constitution, unless it were to fill its need from the abundance of irrational creatures; and besides these, griefs and mournings and misfortunes, and the various forms of diseases, to which human life is subject, from which no one is by nature exempt and free. Seeing these things accurately with the purified eye of the soul, one would not easily be vexed at the lack of honors. On the contrary, then, he will consider the honor offered to him by his neighbor on some account a deceit, since there is nothing of the sort in our nature, which is able to have communion with what is honorable, except in the soul alone, whose honor does not consist of the things sought after in this world. For to boast in wealth, or to be proud of lineage, or to look to glory, or to seem to be above one’s neighbor, through which human honors are fulfilled; all these things become a destruction of the soul’s honor and a reproach, so that the rational person would not choose to defile the purity of his soul with such a thing. But to be this way is nothing other, than to be in a deep state of humility, which having been achieved, anger will have no entrance against the soul. And with this not being present, a calm and quiet life is achieved; which is nothing other than meekness, whose end is blessedness and the inheritance of a heavenly land, in Christ Jesus, to whom be the glory and the power, for ever and ever. Amen. 44.1220

SERMON 3. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Not yet the summit

have we set foot on the mountain, but we are still at the foot of the thoughts; even if we have already passed by two hills, to the blessed poverty, and the meekness above it having been led up through the beatitudes, after which the Word brings us to higher things, and shows us a third height in succession through the beatitudes; to which we must by all means run up, putting aside all hesitation, and the sin which so easily entangles, as the Apostle says, so that being light and well-equipped upon the summit, with the purer light of truth through the soul

9

ῥήμασιν· γλῶσσα τῷ πάθει νεναρκηκυῖα, καὶ οὐχ ὑπηρετοῦσα ταῖς ἔνδον ὁρμαῖς· χείλη πεπηγότα, καὶ οὐ διαρθροῦντα τὸν λόγον, οὔτε περιστέλλοντα τῷ στόματι τὴν ἐγγενομένην ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους ὑγρότητα, ἀλλ' ἀσχημόνως τὸν ἀφρὸν τῇ φωνῇ συνεκπτύοντα· τοιαῦται αἱ χεῖρες· τοιοῦτοι οἱ πόδες· τοιαύτη πᾶσα τοῦ σώματος ἡ διάθεσις, ἑκάστου τῶν μελῶν συνδια 44.1217 τιθεμένου τῷ πάθει. Εἰ οὖν ὁ μὲν τοιοῦτος εἴη· ὁ δὲ πρὸς τὸν μακαρισμὸν βλέπων, διὰ τῶν λογισμῶν καταπραΰνοι τὴν νόσον ἐν καθεστῶτι τῷ βλέμματι, καὶ ἠρεμαίᾳ τῇ φωνῇ, καθάπερ τις ἰατρὸς ἐκ φρενίτι δος ἀσχημονοῦντα θεραπεύων τῇ τέχνῃ· ἆρ' οὐχὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐρεῖς ἀντιπαραθεὶς τοῦτο ἐκείνῳ, ὅτι ἐλεεινὸς μὲν καὶ βδελυκτὸς ὁ θηριώδης ἐκεῖνος, μακαριστὸς δὲ ὁ πραῢς ὁ τῇ τοῦ πέλας κακίᾳ μὴ συνδιαστρέψας τὸ εὕσχημον; Καὶ ὅτι πρὸς τοῦτο μάλιστα τὸ πάθος ὁ Λόγος βλέπει, δῆλόν ἐστιν ἐκ τοῦ μετὰ τὴν ταπεινοφροσύνην νομοθετῆσαι ἡμῖν τὴν πραότητα. Ἔοικε γὰρ ἔχεσθαι τοῦ ἑτέρου τὸ ἕτερον, καὶ οἷον μήτηρ τις εἶναι τῆς κατὰ τὸ πρᾶον ἕξεως ἡ τῆς ταπεινοφροσύνης κατά στασις. Εἰ γὰρ ὑφέλοις τοῦ ἤθους τὸν τῦφον, καιρὸν οὐκ ἔχει τὸ κατὰ θυμὸν ἐγγενέσθαι πάθος. Ὕβρις γὰρ καὶ ἀτιμία τῆς τοιαύτης ἀῤῥωστίας τοῖς ὀργισθεῖσιν αἰτία γίνεται. Ἀτιμία δὲ οὐχ ἅπτεται τοῦ ἑαυτὸν ταπεινοφροσύνῃ παιδαγωγήσαντος. Εἰ γάρ τις κεκα θαρμένον ἔχοι τὸν λογισμὸν ἐκ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀπάτης, καὶ βλέποι τὸ οὐτιδανὸν τῆς φύσεως ᾗ συγκεκλήρωται, ἀφ' οἵας ἀρχῆς τὴν σύστασιν ἔχει, καὶ εἰς ὅ τι φέρεται τέλος τὸ βραχὺ καὶ ὠκύμορον τῆς τῇδε ζωῆς, καὶ τὸν συνεζευγμένον τῇ σαρκὶ ῥύπον, καὶ τὸ πενιχρὸν τῆς φύσεως, τὸ μὴ εἶναι αὐτὴν αὐτάρκη δι' ἑαυτῆς πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν σύστασιν, εἰ μὴ τῇ περιουσίᾳ τῶν ἀλόγων τὸ ἐνδέον ἀναπληρώσειεν· λύπας τε πρὸς τούτοις καὶ πένθη καὶ συμφορὰς, τάς τε πολυτρόπους τῶν νο σημάτων ἰδέας, αἷς ὑπόκειται ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη ζωὴ, ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ὅστις ἐκ φύσεως ἀτελής ἐστι καὶ ἐλεύθε ρος. Ταῦτα δι' ἀκριβείας κεκαθαρμένῳ τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμῷ βλέπων, οὐκ ἂν ῥᾳδίως πρὸς τὰς τῶν τι μῶν ἐλλείψεις ἀγανακτήσειεν. Τὸ ἐναντίον μὲν οὖν ἀπάτην ἡγήσεται τὴν ἐπί τινι προσαγομένην αὐτῷ παρὰ τοῦ πέλας τιμὴν, οὐκ ὄντος ἡμῖν ἐν τῇ φύσει τοιούτου τινὸς, ὃ δύναται τὴν πρὸς τὸ τίμιον κοινω νίαν ἔχειν, εἰ μὴ κατὰ ψυχὴν μόνον, ἧς ἡ τιμὴ οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν κατὰ τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον ἐπιζητουμένων συν ίσταται. Τὸ γὰρ ἐπὶ πλούτῳ κομπάζειν, ἢ γένει σε μνύνεσθαι, ἢ πρὸς δόξαν ὁρᾷν, ἢ τὸ δοκεῖν ὑπὲρ τὸν πέλας εἶναι, δι' ὧν αἱ ἀνθρώπιναι πληροῦνται τιμαί· ταῦτα πάντα καθαίρεσις τῆς ψυχικῆς τιμῆς καὶ ὄνειδος γίνονται, ὡς μὴ ἂν ἑλέσθαι τὸν λελογισμένον τοιούτῳ τινὶ τὸ καθαρὸν τῆς ψυχῆς καταμολύνεσθαι. Τὸ δὲ οὕτως ἔχειν οὐδὲν ἕτερον, ἢ ἐν ἕξει βαθείᾳ τῆς ταπεινοφροσύνης ἐστὶν εἶναι, ἧς κατορθωθείσης, οὐ δεμίαν εἴσοδον ὁ θυμὸς κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ἕξει. Τούτου δὲ μὴ παρόντος, ὁ ἤρεμός τε καὶ ἡσύχιος κατορθοῦ βίος· ὅπερ οὐδὲν ἕτερον, εἰ μὴ πραΰτης ἐστὶν, ἧς τὸ πέρας μακαρισμὸς καὶ οὐρανίας γῆς κληρονο μία, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος, εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. 44.1220

ΛΟΓΟΣ Γʹ. Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθή σονται. Οὔπω τῆς κορυφῆς

τοῦ ὄρους ἐπιβεβήκαμεν, ἀλλ' ἔτι κατὰ τὴν ὑπώρειαν τῶν νοημάτων ἐσμέν· εἰ καὶ δύο τινὰς ἤδη παρωδεύσαμεν λόφους, ἐπὶ τὴν μα καριστὴν πτωχείαν, καὶ τὴν ἀνωτέρω ταύτης πραό τητα διὰ τῶν μακαρισμῶν ἀναχθέντες, μεθ' οὓς προσάγει τοῖς ὑψηλοτέροις ἡμᾶς ὁ Λόγος, καὶ τρίτον ἡμῖν ἐφεξῆς ὕψωμα διὰ τῶν μακαρισμῶν ἀναδεί κνυσι· πρὸς ὃ χρὴ πάντως ἀναδραμεῖν ὄκνον ἀπο θεμένους πάντα, καὶ τὴν εὐπερίστατον ἁμαρτίαν, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ὡς ἂν κοῦφοι καὶ εὐστα λεῖς ἐπὶ τῆς ἄκρας γενόμενοι, καθαρωτέρῳ τῷ τῆς ἀληθείας φωτὶ διὰ τῆς ψυχῆς