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things would now so vehemently grieve us; the things now possessing our life, then often sung, were considered nonsense by us. O the indolence! O the deceit! O the evil 0385 counsels! O the wicked dealings! O the wonder of God's just decision concerning us for these things! How for each kind of our sins he has given us a fitting torment in return. For because of a wretched and abominable pleasure of the flesh, we were justly condemned to have this terrible Gehenna. We were condemned to inhabit this dreadful gloom and darkness, since we loved all shameful things, both sights and sounds and words; and we preferred the horse races and the theaters and the hunts to all the divine goods together; in which crowds of demons danced, and all divine visitation and knowledge through angels was absent; where the dignity of moderation was insulted in many ways; but the evil and abominable thing of licentiousness was openly glorified. We have been justly deprived of light now, because we did not behold creation for the glory of God who made it during our temporary life; but we defiled our eyes and our ears and our tongue; or rather, through these we corrupted the soul made in the image of God with all the sights and hearings and words and envies against one another hated by God. And we were cast down into Tartarus, 15Β_042 terribly worn down at once by the frost and the abyss; because we preferred pride to humility, which is lofty and the source of things lofty and divine; and we rejected the solid and intense quality of virtue on account of the excessive softness and dissipation of the flesh. Where now is our pride, and the arrogant disposition toward all because of it, and the sluggish and dissolute softness of the flesh? O the lack of counsel! Instead of unrestrained laughter and the licentious smacking of the cheeks, there is for us this grievous gnashing of teeth. Because we were unwilling to practice the learning of divine and saving words, but preferred the immoderation of drunkenness to divine praise through reason, we are terribly punished now, with our tongue being burned by a fearful thirst. And as a worthy fruit of our hatred, envy, deceit and hypocrisy towards our brothers, from which and through which come murder, insults and slanders, and holding grudges and falsehood and perjury, we reap this unsleeping worm, which insatiably eats the depth of our soul. Because having distorted the straightness of love, we made the heart crooked, and having corrupted the impartiality of truth, we bent it; having created for ourselves an involuntary worm, an evil, through voluntary hatred, and having dug a more wicked crookedness through falsehood, on account of which we were not united to God who is straight and upright. For he himself said through the holy prophet David, "A crooked heart has not cleaved to me."

Therefore we receive things worthy of what we have done, or rather, we receive the rewards worthy of our own disposition according to our intention; for the fire of pleasure, the fire of Gehenna; and for the darkness of temporary ignorance and deceit, 0388 eternal darkness; and a punishing and unsleeping worm, for the worm that made the heart crooked and bent through hatred and falsehood; and for the noise of lewd cheeks and smacking, the noise and gnashing of teeth; and for the height of vain pride and dissipation, a fall and a gaping depth, 15Β_044 and the gloom of collapse. And to put it simply, for each of our voluntary evils, we justly receive in return the involuntary punishment fitting for each. O our wretchedness! Why did we wretched ones not extinguish the fire of the flesh through fasting and vigil, and the study of the divine words, which are good and easy extinguishers of the fire, and not now be fried in this fire? Why not see and hear and speak according to nature, the

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ἄν νῦν σφοδρῶς οὕτως ἐλύπει τά πράγματα· λῆρος ἡμῖν ἐνομίζετο τά νῦν ἡμῶν συνέχοντα τήν ζωήν, τότε συχνῶς ἐπᾳδόμενα. Ὤ τῆς ῥᾳθυμίας! ὤ τῆς ἀπάτης! ὤ τῶν κακῶν 0385 βουλευμάτων! ὤ τῶν πονηρῶν συναλλαγμάτων! ὤ τοῦ θαύματος τῆς ἐπί τούτοις δικαίας τοῦ Θεοῦ περί ἡμᾶς ἀποφάσεως! Πῶς ἑκάστου τῶν ἡμετέρων ἁμαρτημάτων εἴδους πρόσφορον ἡμῖν ἀντέδωκε βάσανον. ∆ι᾿ οἰκτράν γάρ καί ἀπόπτυστον σαρκός ἡδονήν, ταύτην ἔχειν τήν φοβεράν δικαίως κατεδικάσθημεν γέενναν. Τόν ζόφον καί τό σκότος τοῦτο τό φρικτόν οἰκεῖν κατεκρίθημεν, ἐπειδήπερ ἠγαπήσαμεν πάντα τά αἰσχρά, καί θεάματα καί ἀκούσματα καί ῥήματα· καί πάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν θείων ἀγαθῶν, τά ἱππικά καί τά θέατρα καί τά κυνηγέσια προετιμήσαμεν· ἐν οἷς δαιμόνων ἐχόρευον δῆμοι, καί πᾶσα θεία δι᾿ ἀγγέλων ἀπῆν ἐπισκοπή καί ἐπίγνωσις· ἔνθα τό μέν σεμνόν τῆς σωφροσύνης πολλοῖς καθυβρίζετο τρόποις· τό δέ τῆς ἀκολασίας κακόν τε καί βδελυρόν περιφανῶς ἐσεμνύνετο. ∆ικαίως τοῦ φωτός ἐστερήθημεν νῦν, ὅτι πρός δόξαν τοῦ πεποιηκότος Θεοῦ τήν κτίσιν κατά τήν πρόσκαιρον ἡμῶν ζωήν οὐκ ἐθεασάμεθα· ἀλλ᾿ ἐμολύναμεν τούς ὀφθαλμούς ἡμῶν καί τά ὦτα καί τήν γλῶσσαν· μᾶλλον δέ διά τούτων τήν κατ᾿ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ γεγενημένην ψυχήν πᾶσι τοῖς τῷ Θεῷ μισουμένοις θεάμασί τε καί ἀκροάμασι, καί ῥήμασι, καί ταῖς κατ᾿ ἀλλήλων βασκανίαις ἐφθείραμεν. Εἰς δέ τόν τάρταρον κατεῤῥίφημεν, 15Β_042 πήξει καί βυθῷ κατά ταυτόν τρυχώμενοι δεινῶς· ἐπειδή τῆς μέν ὑψηλῆς, καί τῶν ὑψηλῶν καί θείων προξένου ταπεινοφροσύνης προεκρίναμεν τήν ὑπερηφανίαν· καί τό τῆς ἀρετῆς στεῤῥόν τε καί σύντονον διά τήν τῆς σαρκός ὑπερβάλλουσαν θρύψιν τε καί διάχυσιν ἀπεωσάμεθα. Ποῦ νῦν ἡμῶν ἐστιν ἡ ὑπερηφανία, καί ἡ δι᾿ αὐτήν ἀλαζών πρός πάντας διάθεσις, καί ἡ τῆς σαρκός βλακώδης καί εὐδιάχυτος θρύψις; Ὤ τῆς ἀβουλίας! Ἀντί γέλωτος ἀκρατοῦ, καί τοῦ ἀκολάστου ψόφου τῶν παρειῶν, ὁ βαρύς οὗτος βρυγμός ἐστιν ἡμῖν τῶν ὀδόντων. Τήν τῶν θείων τε καί σωτηρίων λόγων ἀσκῆσαι μάθησιν μή βουληθέντες, ἀλλά μέθης ἀμετρίαν τῆς διά λόγου θείας προτιμήσαντες αἰνέσεως, δεινῶς κολαζόμεθα νῦν, τῆς γλώσσης δίψῃ φοβερᾷ διακαιομένης. Ἄξιον δέ καί τοῦ πρός τούς ἀδελφούς ἡμῶν μίσους, φθόνου τε καί δόλου καί ὑποκρίσεως, ἐξ ὧν καί δι᾿ ὧν ὁ φόνος, λοιδορίας τε καί συκοφαντίας, καί μνησικακίας καί ψεύδους καί ἐπιορκίας δρεπόμεθα καρπόν, τοῦτον τόν ἀκοίμητον σκώληκα, τό βάθος ἡμῶν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀκορέστως ἐσθίοντα. Ἐπειδή τῆς ἀγάπης τό εὐθές διαστρέψαντες, ἐσκολιώσαμεν τήν καρδίαν, καί τῆς ἀληθείας τό ἀπαθές διαφθείραντες, αὐτήν ἐσκαμβώσαμεν· κακόν διά μίσους ἑκουσίου, ἀκούσιον ἑαυτοῖς δημιουργήσαντες σκώληκα, καί πονηροτέραν σκαμβότητα διά ψεύδους ὀρύξαντες, δ᾿ ἥν τῷ Θεῷ εὐθεῖ καί ὀρθῷ οὐχ ἡνώθημεν. Αὐτός γάρ εἶπε διά τοῦ ἁγίου ∆αβίδ τοῦ προφήτου, Οὐκ ἐκολλήθη μοι καρδία σκαμβή.

Ἄξια τοιγαροῦν ὧν ἐπράξαμεν ἀπολαμβάνομεν μᾶλλον δέ, τῆς οἰκείας κατά πρόθεσιν διαθέσεως ἄξια κομιζόμεθα τά ἐπίχειρα· πυρός ἡδονῆς, πῦρ γεέννης· καί σκότους ἀγνοίας καί ἀπάτης προσκαίρου, 0388 σκότος αἰώνιον· καί σκώληκα κολαστικόν καί ἀκοίμητον, σκώληκος τοῦ διά μίσους καί ψεύδους τήν καρδίαν σκολιώσαντός τε καί σκαμβώσαντος· καί ψόφου παρειῶν ἀσελγοῦς καί βράσματος, ψόφον καί ὀδόντων βρυγμόν· καί ὕψους ὑπερηφανίας ματαίας καί διαχύσεως, πτῶσιν καί βάθος ἀχανές, 15Β_044 καί στυγνότητα πτήξεως. Καί ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ἑκάστου τῶν ἑκουσίων ἡμῶν κακῶν, τήν ἑκάστῳ πρόσφορον ἀκούσιον τιμωρίαν δικαίως ἀντιλαμβάνομεν. Ὤ τῆς ἐλεεινότητος ἡμῶν! Τί ἡμᾶς τούς ἀθλίους, μή κατασβέσαι τό πῦρ τῆς σαρκός διά νηστείας καί ἀγρυπνίας, καί τῶν τῶν θείων λόγων μελέτης, καλῶν ὄντων καί εὐμαρῶν τοῦ πυρός σβεστηρίων, καί μή τούτῳ νῦν τῷ πυρί τηγανίζεσθαι; Τί μή κατά φύσιν ὁρᾷν τε καί ἀκούειν καί λαλεῖν, τούς