10

an account of your stewardship, show how you have heard the commandments, how you have behaved toward your fellow servants, whether kindly and humanely or on the contrary, oppressively and tyrannically, striking, beating with the fist, withholding the ration for almsgiving. 2.9.3 And if he is able to make the master merciful, having proved himself a good servant, it would be well; but if the opposite, there are no longer beatings with rods there, nor the darkness of the mill and iron fetters, but unquenchable fire and eternal darkness never illuminated by light, and the gnashing of teeth, which the gospel clearly foretold to us. 2.9.4 If, then, he never casts out the things here as alien, revel in the world and give unrestrained pleasure to every sense. But if these things will come to an end, even if we do not enjoy them for long, let us fear, brothers, the removal from here and let us live in the time of our sojourning as the Lord commanded; let us not be led away as prisoners with debts, but let us journey as free men and bringing a conscience full of confidence, bearing the irreproachable books of the conduct of our life. 2.10.1 That rich man whose land was fruitful was a bad steward of life here, since in the abundance of his crops the man planned nothing good, but having opened up the desire of his belly and the wide and insatiable gulfs of greed, he assigned everything to his own enjoyment, saying: 2.10.2 I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and I will say to my soul: You have many good things laid up; rest, eat, drink, be merry. And while he was speaking, the one who takes away arrived. The fearsome fellow-servant came to take him away from his stewardship without appeal; and what is the profit of the pleasure-loving plan? And these things were written with feeling for our admonition; 2.10.3 But of what sort is the experience of life? Does it not shout these things through deeds every day, showing us the one who is healthy in the middle of the day, dead before sunset; and the one who is strong in the evening not reaching the morning ray; and another ceasing to live while eating? 2.10.4 And who is so foolish as not to see how day by day, one after another, we are removed from the stewardship here? But the good and faithful servant, confident in his own administration, has the same mind as Paul had. For he, though the Lord was not urging him, hastened to him and longed for his departure and willingly resigned his stewardship, saying in one place: 2.10.5 Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? and again: For me it is good to depart and be with Christ. But the one who is earthly in mind and truly kin to the clods of earth laments such things, being at a loss at his removal, like this man of the parable: What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 2.10.6 The grief is of an idle and pleasure-loving man. For to lament at his departure is a proof of being attached to the place and of lamenting the passionate pleasures of the flesh, while being unable for work is an accusation of an idle and dissolute life. For if he had been accustomed to industriousness, he would not have been afraid to dig. 2.11.1 But if we take the parable allegorically in its spiritual sense, after the removal from here there is time neither for working nor for begging. And for this reason let no one say: I am not strong enough to dig. For even if he is able, no one permits it. This life holds the cultivation of the commandments, the next, the enjoyment. So if you have worked nothing here, the vines remained and you are concerned about the hoe in vain; nor will you benefit yourself at all by begging. 2.11.2 And of this a clear example has been given to us: that of the foolish virgins; who, finding themselves in want of oil, shamelessly asked from the wise; but they gained nothing, but were turned away empty-handed; the word showing that at the coming of the bridegroom no one uses another's oil, that is, another's

10

λόγον τῆς οἰκονομίας σου, δεῖξον ὅπως ἤκουσας τῶν ἐντολῶν, ὅπως διετέθης πρὸς τοὺς ὁμοδούλους, ἢ χρηστῶς καὶ φιλανθρώπως ἢ τοὐναντίον ἐπαχθῶς καὶ τυραννικῶς, παίων, κονδυλίζων, ἀποστερῶν τὸ τῆς ἐλεημοσύνης σιτηρέσιον. 2.9.3 Κἂν μὲν δυνηθῇ ἵλεω καταστῆσαι τὸν δεσπότην ἀγαθὸν δοῦλον ἑαυτὸν ἀποδείξας, εὖ ἂν ἔχοι· εἰ δὲ τοὐναντίον, οὐκ ἔτι μάστιγες ἐκεῖ διὰ ῥάβδων, οὐδὲ μύλων σκοτεινὸς καὶ πέδαι σιδηραῖ, ἀλλὰ πῦρ ἄσβεστον καὶ σκότος αἰώνιον οὔποτε φωτὶ καταυγαζόμενον, καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων, ὃν σαφῶς ἡμῖν τὸ εὐαγγέλιον προεδήλωσεν. 2.9.4 Εἰ μὲν οὖν οὐδέποτε τῶν ἐνταῦθα ὡς ἀλλοτρίων ἐκβάλλει, κατατρύφησον τοῦ κόσμου καὶ κατὰ πάσης αἰσθήσεως ἀκώλυτον ἄφες τὴν ἡδονήν. Εἰ δὲ συντελεσθήσεται ταῦτα κἂν οὐκ ἐπὶ μακρὸν αὐτῶν ἀπολαύσωμεν, φοβηθῶμεν, ἀδελφοί, τὴν ἐνθένδε μετάστασιν καὶ ζήσωμεν ἐν τῷ καίρῳ τῆς παροικίας ὡς ὁ Κύριος ἐνετείλατο· μὴ ἀπαχθῶμεν δεσμῶται μετὰ χρεῶν, ἀλλ' ὁδεύσωμεν ἐλεύθεροι καὶ εὐπαρρησίαστον τὸ συνειδὸς ἐπαγόμενοι, ἀκατάγνωστα φέροντες τὰ τῆς τοῦ βίου πολιτείας βιβλία. 2.10.1 Κακὸς ἦν οἰκονόμος τῆς ἐνθάδε ζωῆς ὁ πλούσιος ἐκεῖνος, οὗ ἡ χώρα ηὐφόρησεν, ἐπειδὴ τῇ εὐθηνίᾳ τῶν καρπῶν οὐδὲν ὁ ἄνθρωπος χρηστὸν ἐβουλεύσατο, ἀλλ' ἀνοίξας γαστρὸς ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ τοὺς πλατεῖς καὶ ἀχωρήτους τῆς πλεονεξίας κόλπους πάντα ἀπεκλήρου τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἀπολαύσει λέγων· 2.10.2 Καθελῶ μου τὰς ἀποθήκας καὶ μείζονας οἰκοδομήσω καὶ ἐρῶ τῇ ψυχῇ μου· Ἔχεις πολλὰ ἀγαθὰ κείμενα, ἀναπαύου, φάγε, πίε, εὐφραίνου· καὶ μεταξὺ λαλοῦντος ὁ ἀπάγων ἐπέστη. Ἦλθε φοβερὸς σύνδουλος ἀνάσπαστον ἐκ τῆς οἰκονο μίας ἀπάξων· καὶ τί τὸ ὄφελος τῆς φιληδόνου βουλῆς; Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἐμψύχως ἐγράφη εἰς νουθεσίαν ἡμῶν· 2.10.3 Ἡ δὲ πεῖρα τοῦ βίου ποταπή; Οὐ καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ταῦτα διὰ τῶν ἔργων βοᾷ, δείκνυσα ἡμῖν τὸν ἐν μέσῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ὑγιαίνοντα πρὸ τῆς ἐπιτολῆς τοῦ ἑσπέρου νεκρόν· καὶ τὸν ἐρρωμένον ἐν τῇ ἑσπέρᾳ τὴν ἀκτῖνα τὴν ἐωθινὴν οὐ καταλαμβάνοντα· καὶ ἄλλον μεταξὺ τοῦ ἐσθίειν τοῦ ζῆν ἀπολήγοντα; 2.10.4 Τίς δὲ οὕτως ἠλίθιος, ὡς μὴ συνορᾶν ὅπως καθ' ἡμέραν ἄλλος ἄλλοτε τῆς ἐνθάδε οἰκονομίας ἀποκινούμεθα; Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν ἀγαθὸς καὶ πιστὸς οἰκέτης καὶ πεποιθὼς τῇ ἑαυτοῦ διοικήσει οὕτως ἔχει γνώμης ὡς εἶχε Παῦλος. Ἐκεῖνος γὰρ τοῦ Κυρίου μὴ κατεπείγοντος ἔσπευδε πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ τὴν ἀνάλυσιν ἐπόθει καὶ παρῃτεῖτο ἑκὼν τὴν οἰκονομίαν, πῇ μὲν λέγων· 2.10.5 Ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος, τίς με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου, καὶ πάλιν· Ἐμοὶ δὲ καλὸν ἀνα λῦσαι καὶ σὺν Χριστῷ εἶναι. Ὁ δὲ γήινος τὸ φρόνημα καὶ τῶν βώλων ἀληθῶς συγγενὴς τοιαῦτα ὀδύρεται ἀμηχανῶν ἐπὶ τῇ μεταστάσει, οἷα οὗτος ὁ τῆς παραβολῆς ἄνθρωπος· Τί ποιήσω, ὅτι ὁ κύριος μου ἀφαιρεῖται τὴν οἰκονομίαν ἀπ' ἐμοῦ; Σκάπτειν οὐκ ἰσχύω, ἐπαιτεῖν αἰσχύνομαι. 2.10.6 Ἀργοῦ καὶ φιληδόνου ἡ λύπη. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τῇ ἀναχωρήσει θρηνεῖν ἔλεγχός ἐστιν τοῦ προστετηκέναι τῷ χωρίῳ καὶ τὰς ἐμπαθεῖς τῆς σαρκὸς ἀπολαύσεις ὀδύρεσθαι, τὸ δὲ ἀδυνατεῖν πρὸς ἔργον ἀργοῦ βίου καὶ ἀναπεπτωκότος ἐστὶ κατηγόρημα. Εἰ γὰρ εἶχεν πρὸς φιλοπονίαν συνήθειαν, οὐκ ἂν ἐφοβεῖτο το[ῦ] σκάπτειν. 2.11.1 Εἰ δὲ ἀλληγορικῶς τὴν παραβολὴν ἐπὶ τὸ νοητὸν ἐκλάβοιμεν, μετὰ τὴν ἐνθένδε μετάστασιν οὔτε τοῦ ἐργάζεσθαι οὔτε τοῦ προσαιτεῖν καιρός. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μηδεὶς λεγέτω· Σκάπτειν οὐκ ἰσχύω. Κἂν γὰρ δύνηται, οὐδεὶς συγχωρεῖ. Ὁ βίος οὗτος ἔχει τῶν ἐντολῶν τὴν γεωργίαν, ὁ δὲ μέλλων τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν. Ὥστε εἰ μηδὲν εἰργάσω ἐνταῦθα, ἀπέμειναν αἱ ἄμπελοι καὶ περιττῶς φροντίζεις περὶ τῆς σκαπάνης· οὔτε δὲ προσαιτῶν ὠφελήσεις τι σαυτόν. 2.11.2 Καὶ τούτου σαφὲς ἡμῖν ὑπόδειγμα παραδέδοται τὸ τῶν μωρῶν παρθένων· αἵτινες ἀπορίᾳ καταστᾶσαι τοῦ ἐλαίου ἀναιδῶς ᾔτησαν παρὰ τῶν φρονίμων· ὤνησαν δὲ οὐδέν, ἀλλ' ἀπεστράφησαν ἄπρακτοι· δεικνύντος τοῦ λόγου, ὅτι ἀλλοτρίῳ ἐλαίῳ ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ νυμφίου οὐδεὶς κέχρηται, τουτέστιν ἀλλοτρίῳ