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spoken in the Gospels to those who managed well the minas and the talents entrusted to them. Be over ten cities; and to another, be over five cities. and to Daniel: and the kingdom will be given to the saints of God. For these things indicate some rule and authority that will be given to the saints over those who are inferior and those who need to be directed. These, therefore, he says, he will shepherd with stern authority; but the disobedient he will shatter like vessels of clay. and I will give him, he says, the morning star. the prophet says concerning the Assyrian, that is, Satan, how the morning star, the one who rises early, fell from heaven. This he also now calls the morning star; I will give, therefore, he says, Satan subject to my servants. similar to what is said by the apostle: God will soon crush Satan under your feet. And: you will tread upon the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample the lion and the dragon. And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: these things says he who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, and you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the remaining things that were about to die; for I have not found your works complete before my God. Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard, and keep it, and repent. If, therefore, you will not be watchful, I will come as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come to you. But you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 57 The one who conquers, this one will be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life. and I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Concerning the seven stars, which he now also calls spirits of God, it has been said in the preceding; but now we must hear what he says about those in Sardis. I know your works, he says, that your name is as of one who is living the virtuous life according to God, but you are dead in your sins. For it is the custom in the divine scripture to call those in sins dead, as is shown by what was written by the most wise Paul concerning those who have passed over from unbelief to faith in Christ: and you, being dead in your trespasses, he made alive together with Christ. And the Shepherd also says that some have gone down into the water of the pool, clearly dead, and have come up alive. But awake, he says, from the sleep of sin and strengthen the remaining things that were about to die. There are still left to you, he says, a few works and practices not completely dead. These, therefore, guard as living, though already flowing towards death. For "strengthen" is said as "make firm and empower" things that are both slack and ready to fall. For none of your endeavors, he says, is complete, but some are dead, and others are about to be. Remember therefore, he says, how you have received the faith and heard the word concerning it, and the still living of your works, keep in life. But for those that are dead, repent. If therefore you are not watchful, he says, and do not rise as one from the sleep of sloth, I will come to you, 58 he says, as a punisher when you do not expect. And the holy apostle also says concerning others: but when they say, peace and safety, then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. You have, he says, a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments and they walk with me in white, because they are worthy, for whose sake, he says, I am for the time being restrained and I postpone and am long-suffering towards you. And by undefiled garments, he means the bodies of the saints, according to what was said by the patriarch Jacob: he will wash his robe in wine; And Isaiah also says this very thing: why are your garments red, as from a trodden winepress full of what is trampled? The white garment therefore signifies the purity of the body. He who conquers the passions, he says, will be clothed in white in the age to come. For he himself has promised in the Gospels that the saints will shine like the sun and the moon; and the pure, he says, will be inscribed in the book of the living, that blessed and

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εἰρημένον ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις τοῖς καλῶς οἰκονομήσασι τὰς ἐμπιστευθείσας αὐτοῖς μνᾶς καὶ τὰ τάλαντα. ἔσο ἐπὶ δέκα πόλεων· καὶ ἑτέρῳ ἔσο ἐπὶ πέντε πόλεων. καὶ τῷ ∆ανιήλ· καὶ δοθήσεται ἡ βασιλεία ἁγίοις Θεοῦ. ἀρχὴν γάρ τινα καὶ ἐξουσίαν ταῦτα δηλοῖ δοθησομένην τοῖς ἁγίοις κατὰ τῶν ὑποδεεστέρων καὶ τῶν διευθύνεσθαι χρηζόντων. τούτους οὖν φησιν ποιμανεῖ ἐν αὐστηρᾷ ἐξουσίᾳ· τοὺς δέ γε ἀπειθεῖς συντρίψει ἶσα σκεύεσι κεράμου. καὶ δώσω αὐτῷ φησιν τὸν ἀστέρα τὸν πρωϊνόν φησιν ὁ προφήτης περὶ τοῦ Ἀσσυρίου ἤτοι τοῦ Σατανᾶ, πῶς ἐξέπεσεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὁ ἑωσφόρος ὁ πρωῒ ἀνατέλλων. τοῦτον καλεῖ καὶ νῦν ἀστέρα πρωϊνόν· δώσω οὖν φησιν ὑποχείριον τὸν Σατανᾶν τοῖς ἐμοῖς θεράπουσιν. ὅμοιον τῷ παρὰ τῷ ἀποστόλῳ εἰρημένον· συντρίψει ὁ Θεὸς τὸν Σατανᾶν ἐν τάχει ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας ὑμῶν. καί· ἐπὶ ἀσπίδα καὶ βασιλίσκον ἐπιβήσῃ καὶ καταπατήσεις λέοντα καὶ δράκοντα. Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Σάρδεσιν ἐκκλησίας γράψον, τάδε λέγει ὁ ἔχων τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀστέρας· οἶδά σου τὰ ἔργα ὅτι ὄνομα ἔχεις ὅτι ζῇς, καὶ νεκρὸς εἶ. γίνου γρηγορῶν, καὶ στήρισον τὰ λοιπὰ ἃ ἔμελλον ἀπο θανεῖν· οὐ γὰρ εὕρηκά σου τὰ ἔργα πεπληρωμένα ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ μου. μνημόνευε οὖν πῶς εἴληφας καὶ ἤκουσας, καὶ τήρει, καὶ μετανόησον. ἐὰν οὖν μὴ γρηγορήσῃς, ἥξω ὡς κλέπτης, καὶ οὐ μὴ γνῷς ποῖαν ὥραν ἥξω πρός σε. ἀλλ' ἔχεις ὀλίγα ὀνόματα ἐν Σάρδεσιν, ἃ οὐκ ἐμόλυναν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν, καὶ περιπατοῦσι μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐν λευκοῖς, ὅτι ἄξιοί 57 εἰσιν. ὁ νικῶν οὗτος περιβαλεῖται ἐν ἱματίοις λευκοῖς, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἐξαλείψω τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς βίβλου τῆς ζωῆς. καὶ ὁμολογήσω τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐνώπιον τοῦ πατρός μου καὶ ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ. ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω τί τὸ Πνεῦμα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις. περὶ μὲν τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀστέρων, οὓς νῦν καὶ πνεύματα καλεῖ Θεοῦ, ἐν τοῖς προλαβοῦσιν εἴρηται· νῦν δέ γε ἀκουστέον ἃ λέγει περὶ τῶν ἐν ταῖς Σάρδεσιν. οἶδά σού φησιν τὰ ἔργα, ὅτι τὸ μὲν ὄνομά σου ὡς ζῶντός ἐστιν τὴν κατὰ θεὸν ζωὴν τὴν ἐνάρετον, νεκρὸς δὲ εἶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις. νεκροὺς γὰρ τοὺς ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ἔθος καλεῖν τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ, ὡς δηλοῖ τὸ γεγραμμένον περὶ τῶν ἐξ ἀπιστίας εἰς τὴν Χριστοῦ πίστιν μεταβεβηκότων τῷ σοφωτάτῳ Παύλῳ· καὶ ὑμᾶς νεκροὺς ὄντας τοῖς παραπτώμασι, συνεζωοποίησε τῷ Χριστῷ. καὶ ὁ ποιμὴν δέ φησιν καταβεβηκέναι τινὰς εἰς τὸ ὕδωρ τὸ τῆς κολυμβήθρας, δηλονότι νεκροὺς, καὶ ἀναβεβηκέναι ζῶντας. ἀλλ' ἐξυπνίσθητί φησιν τοῦ ὕπνου τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ στήρισον τὰ λοιπὰ ἃ ἤμελλεν ἀποθανεῖν. ἔτι σοί, φησιν, ἔργα περιλέλειπται βραχέα καὶ ἐπιτηδεύματα οὐ τέλεον ἀποθανόντα. ταῦτα οὖν φύλαξον ζῶντα, πρὸς θάνατον ἤδη ῥέοντα. τὸ γὰρ στήρισον τὸ οἷον στηροποίησον καὶ ἐνδυνάμωσον εἴρηται χαλαρά τε ὄντα καὶ πρὸς πτῶσιν ἕτοιμα. οὐδὲν γάρ σού φησιν τῶν σπουδασμάτων πλῆρές ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν τέθνηκε, τὰ δὲ μέλλει. μνήσθητι οὖν φησιν πῶς εἴληφας τὴν πίστιν καὶ ἤκουσας τὸν περὶ αὐτῆς λόγον, καὶ τὰ μὲν ἔτι ζῶντά σου τῶν ἔργων τήρει ἐν τῇ ζωῇ. ἐπὶ δὲ τοῖς τεθνεῶσι μετανόησον. ἐὰν οὖν μὴ γρηγορήσῃς φησὶν καὶ ὡς ὁ ἐξ ὕπνου τῆς ῥαθυμίας διαναστῇς, ἥξω σοί 58 φησιν κολαστὴς ὅτε οὐ προσδοκᾶς. φησὶ δὲ καὶ περὶ ἑτέρων ὁ ἱερὸς ἀπόστολος· ὅταν δὲ λέγωσιν εἰρήνη καὶ ἀσφάλεια, τότε αὐτοῖς αἰφνίδιον ἥξει ὁ ὄλεθρος ὥσπερ ἡ ὠδὶς τῇ ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσῃ. ἔχεις φησὶν ὀλίγα ὀνόματα ἐν Σάρδεσιν, ἃ οὐκ ἐμόλυναν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν καὶ περιπατοῦσι μετ' ἐμοῦ ἐν λευκοῖς, ὅτι ἄξιοί εἰσιν, οὕς φησιν τέως δυσωπούμενος ἀναβάλλομαι καὶ μακροθυμῶ εἰς ὑμᾶς. ἱμάτια δὲ μὴ μολυνθέντα, τὰ σώματα λέγει τῶν ἁγίων κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον παρὰ τοῦ πατριάρχου Ἰακώβ· πλυνεῖ ἐν οἴνῳ τὴν στολὴν αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὁ Ἡσαΐας δὲ τοῦτο αὐτό φησιν· διὰ τί σου τὰ ἱμάτια ἐρυθρὰ ὡς ἀπὸ πατητοῦ ληνοῦ πλήρης καταπεπατημένης; τὸ λευκὸν οὖν ἱμάτιον τὴν καθαρότητα τοῦ σώματος αἰνίττεται. ὁ νικῶν φησιν τὰ πάθη λευκὰ περιβαλεῖται ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι. καὶ γὰρ ἐκλάμψειν ὡς τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην τοὺς ἁγίους ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις αὐτὸς ἐπήγγελται· οἱ δὲ καθαροὶ ἐγγεγραμένοι φησὶν ἔσονται ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ τῶν ζώντων, τὴν μακαρίαν ἐκείνην καὶ