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we might approach. What then is the meaning of the saying, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted? He who looks to the world will certainly laugh, and will say these things, mocking the Word: If those who are consumed by every misfortune in life are blessed, then consequently those whose life is without grief and without pain are certainly wretched. And so, enumerating the kinds of misfortunes, he will increase his laughter, bringing to view the evils of widowhood, and the misery of orphanhood, losses, shipwrecks, captivities from wars, unjust sentences in court, exiles and confiscations and dishonors, and the misfortunes from diseases, such as maimings and mutilations, and every kind of bodily outrage, and whatever suffering befalls men in this life, affecting either body or soul, he will go through them all in his argument, by which, as he thinks, he will prove that the word that blesses those who mourn is ridiculous. But let us, paying little heed to those who contemplate the divine thoughts in a faint-hearted and base manner, attempt, as far as is possible, to perceive the deep-seated wealth contained in what has been said, so that it may also become clear through this, how great is the difference between the carnal and earthly mind, and the lofty and heavenly one. It is possible, then, at first glance to suppose that mourning to be blessed which is for transgressions and sins, according to Paul's teaching concerning grief, who said that there is not one kind of grief, but one is worldly, and the other is worked according to God. And that the work of worldly grief is death; but the other works salvation from repentance for those who grieve. For in reality such an affection of the soul is not outside of being blessed, when, having come to a perception of the worse, it bewails the life spent in wickedness. For just as in bodily infirmities, for those in whom some part of the body becomes paralyzed from some injury, insensibility becomes a sign that the paralyzed part has become dead; but if by some medical art the vital sensation is brought back to the body, they rejoice already when the part 44.1221 is in pain, both the sick person himself and those who apply the treatment, using as proof that the affliction has turned towards health, the fact that the member has now come to have a sensation of sharp things; so when, as the Apostle says, some, having become callous, give themselves over to a life of sin, having become truly dead and paralyzed to the life of virtue, they have no sensation of what they are doing. But if the healing word should take hold of them, as if by certain hot and caustic medicines (I mean the stern threats of the future judgment), and should sharply sting the heart to its depths with the fear of things expected—the fear of Gehenna, and the unquenchable fire, and the undying worm, and the gnashing of teeth, and the unceasing weeping, and the outer darkness, and all such things—rubbing in and warming, like certain hot and sharp medicines, the one who has grown numb through the passions of pleasure, should bring him to a sensation of the life in which he was, it would render him blessed, having produced a painful sensation in his soul. Just as Paul also scourges with his word the one who lusted for his father's bed, as long as he was insensible to his sin; but when the cure of the rebuke reached the man, as one who had now become blessed through mourning, he begins to comfort him, "lest such a one," he says, "be swallowed up by excessive grief." Let this thought also be not useless for us for the present contemplation of the beatitude for a life according to virtue, because sin somehow abounds in the nature of men; and for this, the mourning that comes from repentance has been shown to be a remedy. But it seems to me that the Word signifies something deeper than what has been said in the continuous action of mourning, suggesting that we understand something else besides this. For if it only showed the repentance for a transgression, it would have been more consistent for those who have mourned

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προσπελάσαιμεν. Τί τοίνυν ἐστὶ τὸ λεγόμενον, Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται; Γελάσει πάντως ὁ πρὸς τὸν κόσμον βλέπων, καὶ λέξει ταῦτα καταχλευά ζων τὸν Λόγον· Εἰ μακαρίζονται κατὰ τὸν βίον οἱ ἐν πάσῃ συμφορᾷ δαπανώμενοι, ἄθλιοι κατὰ τὸ ἀκόλου θόν εἰσι πάντως οἷς ἄλυπός τε καὶ ἀπήμων ἐστὶν ἡ ζωή. Καὶ οὕτω τὰ εἴδη τῶν συμφορῶν ἐξαριθμού μενος, πλεονάσει τὸν γέλωτα, τὰ τῆς χηρείας κακὰ, καὶ τὴν τῆς ὀρφανίας ταλαιπωρίαν ὑπ' ὄψιν ἄγων, τὰς ζημίας, τὰ ναυάγια, τὰς ἐκ πολέμων αἰχμαλω σίας, τὰς ἀδίκους ἐν δικαστηρίῳ κρίσεις, μεθορι σμούς τε καὶ δημεύσεις καὶ ἀτιμίας, τάς τε συμφορὰς τὰς ἐκ τῶν νόσων, οἷον πηρώσεις τε καὶ ἀκρωτη ριασμοὺς, καὶ τὴν παντοδαπὴν τοῦ σώματος λώβην, καὶ εἴ τι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις κατὰ τὸν βίον τοῦτον συν ίσταται πάθος, ἢ σώματος, ἢ ψυχῆς ἁπτόμενον, πάντα τῷ λόγῳ διεξελεύσεται, δι' ὧν, ὡς οἴεται, καταγέ λαστον ἀποδείξει τὸν τοὺς πενθοῦντας μακαρίζοντα λόγον. Ἡμεῖς δὲ μικρὰ φροντίσαντες τῶν μικροψύ χως τε καὶ ταπεινῶς ἀναθεωρούντων τὰ θεῖα νοή ματα, ὡς ἔστι δυνατὸν κατιδεῖν τὸν ἐγκείμενον τῷ εἰρημένῳ διὰ βάθους πλοῦτον ἐπιχειρήσωμεν, ὅπως ἂν φανερὸν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο γένοιτο, πόσον ἐστὶ τὸ διάφορον τῆς σαρκίνης τε καὶ χοϊκῆς διανοίας, πρὸς τὴν ὑψηλήν τε καὶ ἐπουράνιον. Ἔστι μὲν οὖν ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου μακαριστὸν ὑπο λαβεῖν ἐκεῖνο τὸ πένθος, τὸ ἐπὶ πλημμελήμασι καὶ ἁμαρτίαις γινόμενον, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Παύλου περὶ τῆς λύπης διδασκαλίαν, τοῦ φήσαντος, μὴ ἒν εἶναι λύπης εἶδος, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν κοσμικὸν, τὸ δὲ κατὰ Θεὸν ἐνερ γούμενον. Καὶ τῆς μὲν κοσμικῆς λύπης, θάνατον εἶναι τὸ ἔργον· τὴν δὲ ἑτέραν, σωτηρίαν ἐκ μετα νοίας τοῖς λυπουμένοις ἐργάζεσθαι. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ οὐκ ἔξω τοῦ μακαρίζεσθαι τὸ τοιοῦτον τῆς ψυχῆς πάθος ἐστὶν, ὅταν ἐν αἰσθήσει γενομένη τοῦ χείρονος, τὸν ἐν κακίᾳ βίον ἀπολοφύρηται. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν σωματικῶν ἀῤῥωστημάτων, οἷς ἂν πάρετον ἐξ ἐπη ρείας τινὸς γένηταί τι μέρος τοῦ σώματος, σημεῖον τοῦ νενεκρῶσθαι τὸ παρειμένον ἡ ἀναλγησία γίνεται· εἰ δὲ κατά τινα τέχνην ἰατρικὴν ἡ ζωτικὴ πάλιν αἴσθησις ἐπαναχθείη τῷ σώματι, χαίρουσιν ἤδη πο 44.1221 νοῦντος τοῦ μέρους, αὐτός τε ὁ κάμνων καὶ οἱ τὴν θεραπείαν προσάγοντες, τεκμηρίῳ χρώμενοι τοῦ πρὸς ὑγίειαν τρέψαι τὸ πάθος, τὸ ἐν αἰσθήσει τῶν δριμυσσόντων ἤδη γενέσθαι τὸ μέλος· οὕτως ἐπειδὰν, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ἀπηλγηκότες τινὲς παρα δῶσι τῷ καθ' ἁμαρτίαν βίῳ ἑαυτοὺς, νεκροί τινες ὄντως καὶ πάρετοι τοῦ κατ' ἀρετὴν βίου γενόμενοι, οὐδεμίαν ἔχουσιν ὧν ποιοῦσιν τὴν αἴσθησιν. Εἰ δὲ καθάψαιτό τις αὐτῶν ὁ ἰατρεύων λόγος, οἷον διά τινων θερμῶν τε καὶ διακαιόντων φαρμάκων (λέγω δὲ τῶν σκυθρωπῶν τῆς μελλούσης κρίσεως ἀπειλῶν), καὶ διὰ βάθους τὴν καρδίαν τῷ φόβῳ τῶν προσδο κωμένων δριμύξειεν, γεέννης φόβον, καὶ πῦρ μὴ σβεννύμενον, καὶ ἀτελεύτητον σκώληκα, καὶ βρυγμὸν ὀδόντων, καὶ κλαυθμὸν ἀδιάλειπτον, καὶ σκότος ἐξώ τερον, καὶ ἅπαντα τὰ τοιαῦτα, οἷόν τινα θερμὰ καὶ δριμέα φάρμακα τῷ νεναρκηκότι διὰ τῶν καθ' ἡδο νὴν παθημάτων ἐντρίβων καὶ ἀναθάλπων, εἰς αἴσθη σιν αὐτὸν ἀγάγοι τοῦ ἐν ᾧ ἦν βίου, μακαριστὸν αὐτὸν ἀπεργάσηται, τὴν ὀδυνηρὰν αἴσθησιν τῇ ψυχῇ ἐμ ποιήσας. Καθάπερ καὶ ὁ Παῦλος τὸν τῇ κοίτῃ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐπιλυσσήσαντα, μέχρις ἐκείνου μαστίζει τῷ λόγῳ, ἕως ἂν ἀναισθήτως εἶχεν τῆς ἁμαρτίας· ἐπεὶ δὲ καθίκετο τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἡ τῆς ἐπιπλήξεως ἰατρεία, ὡς ἤδη μακάριον διὰ τοῦ πένθους γενόμενον, παρα καλεῖν ἄρχεται, ἵνα μὴ τῇ περισσοτέρᾳ λύπῃ, φησὶ, καταποθῇ ὁ τοιοῦτος. Ἔστω δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ἡμῖν τὸ νόημα πρὸς τὴν προκειμένην τοῦ μακαρισμοῦ θεω ρίαν εἰς τὸν κατ' ἀρετὴν βίον οὐκ ἄχρηστον, διὰ τὸ πλεονάζειν πως ἐν τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν· ταύτης δὲ φάρμακον τὸ ἐκ μετανοίας πένθος ἀποδέδεικται. Ἀλλά μοι δοκεῖ βαθύτερόν τι τῶν εἰρημένων ὑποσημαίνειν ὁ Λόγος ἐν τῇ παρατα τικῇ τοῦ πένθους ἐνεργείᾳ, ἄλλο τι παρὰ τοῦτο νοεῖν ὑφηγούμενος. Εἰ γὰρ μόνην τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ πλημμελή ματι μεταμέλειαν ἐπεδείκνυεν, ἀκολουθότερον ἂν ἦν τοὺς πενθήσαντας