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impartial, the rivers of fire drawn before that tribunal and boiling with a most violent flame, the sharpened swords, the severe punishments, the punishment that has no end, the lightless gloom, the outer darkness, the venomous worm, the unbreakable bonds, the gnashing of teeth and the inconsolable weeping, the theater of the inhabited world, or rather the theater of both creations, the one above, the one below. "For the powers of the heavens will be shaken," he says. For even if they are conscious of nothing in themselves, nor are they about to be held to account, yet seeing the whole race of men and the countless multitudes being judged, they do not stand there without fear. So great is the fear then. Consider these things, therefore, and the inescapable reproofs. For that judge does not need accusers, nor witnesses, nor proofs, nor refutations, but brings everything forth as it was done into the middle and before the eyes of those who have transgressed. Then there will be no one present to snatch one from the punishment, not a father, not a son, not a daughter, not a mother, not any other relative, not a neighbor, not a friend, not an advocate, not a gift of money, not an abundance of wealth, not the weight of power, but all these things are driven out of the way like dust, and the one being judged, alone, from his own deeds endures the verdict that either frees or condemns. Then no one is judged for what another has done wrong, but each for what he himself has sinned. Therefore, having gathered all these things together and having magnified this fear and built it as a wall against the satanic and soul-harming grief, so stand in battle array against it, and by merely appearing, you will be able to tear it apart more easily than a spider's web and make it disappear. For the one is, besides being vain and superfluous, also exceedingly destructive and harmful; but that fear is both necessary and useful and beneficial and has much profit. But I have been carried away unnoticed by the rush of my discourse and have made this exhortation not fitting for you; for to me and to those like me who are submerged in a multitude of sins, this discourse is necessary; for it frightens and rouses; but you, who are adorned with so many right actions and have already touched the very arch of the heavens, it could not even simply prick. Therefore, I will turn to another melody while speaking to you and strike another chord, since this fear cannot touch you, except insofar as it touches the angels. Let us therefore change our arrangement, and come, you also change with the discourse and consider the rewards for your right actions, the brilliant prizes, the radiant crowns, the dance with the virgins, the sacred bridal chambers, the bridegroom's chamber of the heavens, the lot with the angels, the confidence and communion with the bridegroom, that marvelous torch-bearing procession, the good things that surpass both word and thought. 8.4 But do not criticize my words, if we have counted you, who have lived in widowhood, in the choir of those holy virgins. For you have heard me discoursing many times, both in private and in public, what the definition of virginity is, and that you would never be prevented from being counted in their choir, but rather, you who have shown so much philosophy in other things, could even surpass them with great abundance. For this reason Paul, when setting a definition of virginity, did not call a virgin she who is inexperienced in marriage and free from intercourse with a man, but she who is anxious about the things of the Lord. And Christ himself, showing how much greater is almsgiving than virginity, of which you yourself hold the scepter and have long since bound on the crown, cast out half of that choir because they entered without this, or rather because they did not possess it abundantly; for they had oil, but not enough. But those who entered without virginity, since

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ἀδέκαστον, τοὺς ποτα μοὺς τοῦ πυρὸς τοὺς πρὸ τοῦ βήματος ἐκείνου συρομένους καὶ σφοδροτάτῃ καχλάζοντας τῇ φλογί, τὰς ἠκονημένας ῥομφαίας, τὰς ἀποτόμους τιμωρίας, τὴν κόλασιν τὴν οὐκ ἔχουσαν τέλος, τὸν ζόφον τὸν ἀφεγγῆ, τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον, τὸν σκώληκα τὸν ἰοβόλον, τὰ δεσμὰ τὰ ἄλυτα, τὸν βρυγμὸν τῶν ὀδόντων καὶ τὸν κλαυθμὸν τὸν ἀπαραμύθητον, τὸ θέατρον τῆς οἰκουμένης, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ θέατρον ἑκατέρας τῆς κτίσεως, τῆς ἄνω, τῆς κάτω. «Καὶ γὰρ αἱ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν σαλευθήσονται», φησίν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μηδὲν ἑαυταῖς συνίσασι, μηδὲ μέλλουσιν ὑπέχειν εὐθύνας, ἀλλ' ὁρῶσαι τὸ γένος ἅπαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοὺς ἀπείρους δήμους κρινομένους, οὐκ ἀδεῶς ἐκεῖ παρεστήκασι. Τοσοῦτος ὁ φόβος τότε. Ταῦτα τοίνυν ἐννόει καὶ τοὺς ἀφύκτους ἐλέγχους. Οὐδὲ γὰρ κατηγόρων δεῖται ἐκεῖνος ὁ δικαστής, οὐδὲ μαρτύρων, οὐδὲ ἀποδείξεων, οὐδὲ ἐλέγχων, ἀλλὰ πάντα ὡς ἐπράχθη φέρει εἰς μέσον καὶ πρὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τῶν πεπλημμεληκότων. Τότε οὐδεὶς ὁ παρεσόμενος καὶ ἐξαρπάσων τῆς τιμωρίας, οὐ πατήρ, οὐχ υἱός, οὐ θυγάτηρ, οὐ μήτηρ, οὐκ ἄλλος τις συγγενής, οὐ γείτων, οὐ φίλος, οὐ συνήγορος, οὐ χρημάτων δόσις, οὐ πλούτου περιουσία, οὐ δυναστείας ὄγκος, ἀλλὰ πάντα ταῦτα ὥσπερ κόνις ἐκποδὼν ἐλήλαται, καὶ μόνος ὁ κρινόμενος ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῷ πεπραγμένων ἢ τὴν ἐλευθεροῦσαν ἢ τὴν καταδικάζουσαν ὑπομένει ψῆφον. Τότε οὐδεὶς ὑπὲρ ὧν ἄλλος ἐπλημμέλησε κρίνεται, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ ὧν αὐτὸς ἕκαστος ἥμαρτε. Ταῦτα οὖν ἅπαντα συναγαγοῦσα καὶ τὸν φόβον τοῦτον ἐξογκώσασα καὶ ἐπιτειχίσασα τῇ σατανικῇ καὶ ψυχοβλαβεῖ λύπῃ, οὕτως ἐν τῇ πρὸς αὐτὴν στῆθι παρατάξει, καὶ φανεῖσα μόνον, ἀράχνης αὐτὴν εὐκολώτερον διασπάσαι καὶ ἀφανίσαι δυνήσῃ. Αὕτη μὲν γὰρ μετὰ τοῦ μάταιος εἶναι καὶ περιττὴ καὶ ὀλέθριος σφόδρα καὶ βλαβερά· ἐκεῖνος δὲ καὶ ἀναγκαῖος ὁ φόβος καὶ χρήσιμος καὶ ἐπωφελὴς καὶ πολὺ τὸ κέρδος ἔχων. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἔλαθον ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ λόγου ῥύμης παρασυρεὶς καὶ οὐχ ἁρμόζουσάν σοι ταύτην ποιησάμενος τὴν παραίνεσιν· ἐμοὶ μὲν γὰρ καὶ τοῖς κατ' ἐμὲ βεβαπτισμένοις ἁμαρτημάτων πλήθει ἀναγκαῖος οὗτος ὁ λόγος· φοβεῖ γὰρ καὶ διανίστησι· σὲ δὲ ἐν τοσούτοις κατορθώμασι κομῶσαν καὶ αὐτῆς ἤδη τῆς ἁψῖδος τῶν οὐρανῶν ἁψαμένην, οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς νύττειν δύναιτ' ἄν. ∆ιὸ πρὸς ἑτέραν μεταστήσομαι μελῳδίαν πρὸς σὲ διαλεγόμενος καὶ ἑτέραν ἀνακρούσομαι νευράν, ἐπειδή σου οὗτος ὁ φόβος καθικέσθαι οὐ δύναται, πλὴν ὅσον καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων. Μεταταξώμεθα τοίνυν καὶ δεῦρο καὶ αὐτὴ μετάστηθι μετὰ τοῦ λόγου καὶ ἀναλογίζου τῶν κατορθωμάτων σου τὰς ἀντιδόσεις, τὰ βραβεῖα τὰ λαμπρά, τοὺς φαιδροὺς στεφάνους, τὴν μετὰ τῶν παρθένων χορείαν, τὰς παστάδας τὰς ἱεράς, τὸν νυμφῶνα τῶν οὐρανῶν, τὴν μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων λῆξιν, τὴν πρὸς τὸν νύμφιον παρρησίαν καὶ ὁμιλίαν, τὴν θαυμαστὴν δᾳδουχίαν ἐκείνην τὰ ἀγαθὰ τὰ καὶ λόγον καὶ νοῦν ὑπερβαίνοντα. 8.4 Ἀλλὰ μή μου τῶν λόγων ἐπιλάβῃ, εἰ καὶ εἰς τὸν χορὸν τῶν παρθένων σε κατελέξαμεν τῶν ἁγίων ἐκείνων ἐν χηρείᾳ βεβιωκυῖαν. Ἤκουσας γάρ μου πολλάκις καὶ ἰδίᾳ καὶ δημοσίᾳ διαλεγομένου τίς ποτέ ἐστι τῆς παρθενίας ὁ ὅρος, καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἂν κωλυθείης ποτὲ εἰς τὸν ἐκείνων καταλεγῆναι χορόν, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἐκείνας ὑπερβῆναι μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς περιουσίας ἡ πολλὴν ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπιδειξαμένη φιλοσο φίαν. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο ὁ Παῦλος ὅρον παρθενίας τιθεὶς οὐ τὴν ἀπειρόγαμον καὶ ἀπηλλαγμένην συνουσίας ἀνδρὸς παρθένον ἐκάλεσεν, ἀλλὰ τὴν τὰ τοῦ Κυρίου μεριμνῶσαν. Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Χριστὸς δεικνὺς ὅσῳ μείζων παρθενίας ἐλεημοσύνη ἧς τὰ σκῆπτρα κατέχεις αὐτὴ καὶ τὸν στέφανον ἀνεδήσω πάλαι, ἀπ' ἐκείνου μὲν τοῦ χοροῦ τὸ ἥμισυ μέρος ἐξέβαλεν, ἐπειδὴ ταύτης εἰσῆλθον χωρίς, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐπειδὴ δαψιλῶς αὐτὴν οὐκ ἐκέκτηντο· καὶ γὰρ εἶχον ἔλαιον, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀρκοῦν. Τοὺς δὲ χωρὶς παρθενίας εἰσελθόντας, ἐπειδὴ