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sent forth, and suddenly it will raise myriads of human bodies, as from a kind of sleep of death, leading them to examination; and God renders to each just and worthy rewards for what he did through the body, whether good or evil, giving a great and fearful and final conclusion to all beings. But may it be that all of us may have unceasingly before our eyes both the saving fear of Gehenna, and the precious desire for the kingdom of the heavens [and it is properly the same thing to say of both, God becoming and being called all in all; as each possesses a quality of vice or virtue]; the fear, making for us a complete abstinence 0392 and inactivity from evils; and the desire, abundantly and cheerfully urging us to the practice of good things.

Let these things from me, the little and poor one, O blessed one, be tokens of love toward you, for the sake of guarding and safeguarding the good things that are yours; of which I suppose even you have need, who are so exceedingly adorned in all things with virtues. For I am not able to repay you justly in any other way for your many kindnesses to me, than by being disposed in this manner. And with me, all the honorable Fathers who sojourn in this region on your account greet you genuinely and with one accord, night and day unceasingly beseeching God with tears, to restore to us in health our George, who is truly sweet both when seen and when named; so that with him we may journey through the present life unharmed, and may enjoy the grace to come from the philanthropic 15Β_050 God and giver of good things; through the intercessions on our behalf, and making God merciful to us, of our all-holy, glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, with all the saints. Amen.

SCHOLIA

1. See concerning human rule. 2. What one ought to seek and to will; and what to concede to God. 3. That to rule and to be ruled, and to be rich and to be poor, is neither of nature,

nor of will, but of the Providence that leads all things. 4. Definition of what is in our power, that is, of free will. 5. Definition of what is not in our power, that is, of things not under free will. 6. He calls the extremes generation and corruption, and the middle between generation and corruption

is the generated; in which corruption often anticipates generation; entering in together with generation around that which is being generated, and corrupting its constitution before it comes to be.

7. Those who have the soul nailed to the relation of the senses, are not saved, he says, even if they are inactive from the passions that delight the senses, unless they completely remove the soul from its relation to the senses; just as not even the blessed Lot, if he had not departed from Sodom, even if he did not do the things of the Sodomites, would not have escaped the descent of the fire.

EPISTLE II. TO JOHN THE CUBICULARIUS, CONCERNING LOVE II. Of the same to John the cubicularius, concerning love. 15Β_052 Of the holy love toward God according to grace and toward neighbor

that you, O divinely-guarded ones, hold fast, and 0393 are diligent in the appropriate ways, and having already learned this for myself when present, and when absent no less, if not even more than when present, to suffer as many things as are proper to divine love and is and

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ὑφέν, καί ἀθρόως τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων σωμάτων μυριάδας, ὡς ἐξ ὕπνου τινός ἀναστήσει τοῦ θανάτου, πρός ἐξέτασιν ἄγουσα· ὁ δέ Θεός δικαίας ἑκάστῳ πρός ἅ διά τοῦ σώματος ἔπραξεν, εἴτε καλόν, εἴτε φαῦλον, καταξίαν τάς ἀμοιβάς ἀποδίδωσιν, μέγαν καί φοβερόν καί ἔσχατον πᾶσι τοῖς οὖσι διδούς συγκλεισμόν. Ἀλλά γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς, τόν τε σωτήριον τῆς γεέννης φόβον, καί τόν τίμιον πόθον τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας [ταυτόν δέ κυρίως ἐπ᾿ ἀμφοτέρων εἰπεῖν ἔστι, Θεοῦ πᾶσι πάντα γινομένου τε καί λεγομένου· καθώς ἕκαστος ἔχει κακίας ἤ ἀρετῆς ποιότητος] πρό ὀφθαλμῶν ἀδιαστάτως ἔχειν· τόν μέν φόβον, παντελῆ τῶν κακῶν ἡμῖν ἀποχήν 0392 καί ἀργίαν ποιοῦντα· τόν δέ πόθον, κατά περιουσίαν καί εἰς τάς τῶν ἀγαθῶν πράξεις ἱλαρῶς προτρεπόμενον.

Ταῦτα σοι παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ τοῦ μικροῦ καί πένητος, εὐλογημένε, τῆς ἀγάπης ἔστω τῆς πρός σέ γνωρίσματα, φυλακῆς ἕνεκεν καί ἀσφαλείας τῶν προσόντων σοι καλῶν· ἧς χρῄζειν ὑπολαμβάνω, καί τό λίαν κατά σέ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς διά πάντων κοσμούμενον. Οὐ γάρ ἄλλως ἔχω σε δικαίως ἀμείψασθαι δυνηθῆναι, τῶν εἰς ἐμέ πολλῶν σου καλῶν, ἤ κατά τοῦτον τόν τρόπον διατιθέμενος. Σύν ἐμοί δέ γνησίως πάντες ὁμοθυμαδόν οἱ ταύτην διά σέ παροικοῦντες τήν χώραν τίμιοι Πατέρες ἀσπάζονται, νυκτός καί ἡμέρας ἀπαύστως μετά δακρύων τόν Θεόν ἱκετεύοντες, ἀποκαταστῆσαι μεθ᾿ ὑγείας ἡμῖν τόν ἡμῶν Γεώργιον, τόν ὄντως γλυκύν καί ὁρώμενον καί ὀνομαζόμενον· ἵνα σύν αὐτῷ τήν τε παροῦσαν ἀβλαβῶς διοδεύσωμεν ζωήν, καί μελλούσης χάριτος τοῦ φιλανθρώπου 15Β_050 Θεοῦ καί δοτῆρος τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπολαύσωμεν· πρεσβευούσης ὑπέρ ἡμῶν, καί τόν Θεόν ἡμῖν ἱλεουμένης τῆς παναγίας ἐνδόξου ∆εσποίνης ἡμῶν Θεοτόκου καί ἀειπαρθένου Μαρίας, σύν πᾶσι τοῖς ἁγίοις. Ἀμήν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ

1. Ὄρα περί ἀρχῆς ἀνθρωπίνης. 2. Τίνα χρή ζητεῖν καί θέλειν· καί τίνα παραχωρεῖν τῷ Θεῷ. 3. Ὅτι τό ἀρχεῖν καί ἄρχεσθαι, καί πλουτεῖν καί πένεσθαι, οὔτε φύσεώς ἐστιν,

οὔτε γνώμης, ἀλλά τῆς ἀγούσης τά πάντα Προνοίας. 4. Ὅρος τοῦ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν, ἤγουν τοῦ αὐτεξουσίου. 5. Ὅρος τοῦ οὐκ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν, εἴτουν τῶν μή ὑπό τό αὐτεξούσιον. 6. Τά ἄκρα λέγει τήν γένεσιν καί τήν φθοράν, μέσον δέ γενέσεως καί φθορᾶς

ἐστι τό γενητόν· ἐφ᾿ οὗ πολλάκις ἡ φθορά προλαμβάνει τήν γένεσιν· ἄμα τῇ γενέσει περί τό γινόμενον συνεισειοῦσα, καί τήν αὐτοῦ πρίν γενέσθαι δαφθείρουσα σύστασιν.

7. Οἱ τήν ψυχήν τῇ σχέσει τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἔχοντες προσηλουμένην, οὐ σώζονται, φησί, κἄν ἀργῶσιν ἀπό τῶν τερπόντων τάς αἰσθήσεις παθῶν, εἰ μή τελείως τῆς πρός τάς αἰσθήσεις σχέσεως τήν ψυχήν ἀποστήσωσιν· ὡς οὐδέ ὁ μακάριος Λώτ, εἰ μή ἐξῆλθε Σοδόμων, κἄν οὐκ ἐποίει τά Σοδομιτῶν, οὐκ ἄν διέφυγε τοῦ πυρός τήν κατάβασιν.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ Β'. ΠΡΟΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ ΚΟΥΒΙΚΟΥΛΑΡΙΟΝ, ΠΕΡΙ ΑΓΑΠΗΣ Β´. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός Ἰωάννην κουβικουλάριον, περί ἀγάπης. 15Β_052 Τῆς πρός τόν Θεόν κατά χάριν καί τόν πλησίον ἁγίας ἀγάπης

ἀντεχομένους ὑμᾶς, θεοφύλακτοι, καί 0393 τοῖς καθήκουσι τρόποις ἐπιμελουμένους, καί ἤδη μέν μαθών παρ᾿ ἐμαυτοῦ παρών, καί ἀπών δέ οὐχ ἦττον, εἰ μή καί μᾶλλον τοῦ παρεῖναι, τό πάσχειν ὅσα τῆς θείας ἀγάπης ἴδια καί ἔστι καί