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For if we are deemed worthy to see him here with our senses, we will not die, death will not have dominion over us. For let us not expect to see him in the future, but let us strive now to behold him, since John the Theologian also says thus: "And we know that we have God in our hearts, from the Spirit which we have received from him." As many of you, therefore, as have shown your faith in him through works to be unbroken and firm, having accurately and well discerned the things said by us above, see that you do not deceive yourselves into thinking you have Christ in yourselves, when you have nothing, and depart this life with empty hands and hear, which I pray does not happen, that dreadful voice: "Take away what the wicked one seems to hold, give it to the one who has more," and then you will weep and (44) and mourn and will have sorrow for an endless age.

But may it not happen that we who have renounced the whole world and the things in the world and have run to Christ should hear such a voice and suffer such a thing, but may it be that, having kept the commandments of God, our hearts may be purified through tears and repentance, so that we may even from here behold the divine light, Christ himself, and may possess him abiding in us, and through his all-holy Spirit nourishing and quickening our souls, and giving us a foretaste of the delightful sweetness of those good things of his kingdom, of which may we all be deemed worthy in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Concerning that it is necessary to be properly obedient and not to forget the covenants which we made with God. And that one must not grumble at the

all-night vigils of the morning prayers.

Discourse III. (45) Brothers and fathers, remembering the commands of God thus

saying: "Judge not, and you will not be judged," do not meddle at all in the lives of others, but rather do what the priests tell us to do, but do not do according to their works, as you have heard. Therefore obey me, the unworthy one, as servants of Christ, and leaving aside my faintheartedness and sloth, take care, I beseech you, of your souls and hasten to do the commandments of God without wearying; and do not grumble against me, the humble one, as if you were roused at midnight once a year, but remembering the one who said: "At midnight I arose to give thanks to you for the judgments of your righteousness," give thanks rather to God and to the one who awakened you for his praise and rejoice and leap for joy, because you were deemed worthy to praise God with the holy angels. For he who is vexed at the customary gathering and is annoyed and broken by the length of the (46) hymns offered up, he truly does not know how sweet are the words of God in the throat of those who love him and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb in the mouth of those who know him, but being entirely of the flesh and having a carnal mind and a more carnal sense, he cannot spiritually taste the things given to us by God for our benefit, but all things concerning God seem bitter to him, and "Taste and see that the Lord is good" he does not understand. He who does not clearly understand this, is clearly alienated from the love and sweetness of Christ. He who is without taste of these things and is a stranger to them—alas for me, it is my misfortune, for I have been commanded to make the faults of others my own—is an enemy of God and a stranger to the kingdom of heaven; for what other hope, tell me, will he have or whose love will he embrace and find consolation or

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Ἐάν γάρ αὐτόν ἀξιωθῶμεν ἐνταῦθα αἰσθητῶς ἰδεῖν, οὐκ ἀποθανούμεθα, θάνατος οὐ κυριεύσει ἡμῶν. Μή γάρ εἰς τό μέλλον ἐκδεξώμεθα τοῦτον ἰδεῖν, ἀλλά νῦν ἀγωνισώμεθα θεάσασθαι αὐτόν, ἐπεί καί Ἰωάννης ὁ Θεολόγος οὕτω φησίν· "Οἴδαμεν δέ ὅτι ἔχομεν τόν Θεόν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν, ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος οὗ ἐλάβομεν ἐξ αὐτοῦ". Ὅσοι οὖν τήν πίστιν εἰς αὐτόν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων ἐδείξατε ἀρραγῆ καί βεβαίαν, τά παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ἄνωθεν ῥηθέντα ἀκριβῶς καί καλῶς διακρίναντες, ὁρᾶτε μή λάθητε ἑαυτούς ἐν τῷ δοκεῖν Χριστόν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, μηδέν ἔχοντες, καί κεναῖς ταῖς χερσίν ὑπεξέλθητε τόν βίον καί ἀκούσητε, ὅπερ ἀπεύχομαι, τῆς ἀπευκταίας ἐκείνης φωνῆς· "Ἄραντες ὁ δοκεῖ κατέχειν ὁ πονηρός, δότε τῷ πλεῖον ἔχοντι", καί τότε κλαύσετε καί (44) καί πενθήσετε καί λύπην ἕξετε εἰς αἰῶνα ἀπέραντον.

Ἀλλά μή γένοιτο φωνῆς ἀκοῦσαι καί τοιοῦτον παθεῖν τούς ἀπαρνησαμένους ἡμᾶς κόσμον ἅπαντα καί τά ἐν κόσμῳ καί προσδραμόντας Χριστῷ, γένοιτο δέ τάς ἐντολάς τηρήσαντας τοῦ Θεοῦ, διά δακρύων καί μετανοίας καθαρθῆναι τάς καρδίας ἡμῶν, ὡς ἄν καί τό θεῖον φῶς, αὐτόν τόν Χριστόν, ἐντεῦθεν ὀψώμεθα καί μένοντα ἐν ἡμῖν κτησώμεθα, καί διά τοῦ Παναγίου αὐτοῦ Πνεύματος τρέφοντα καί ζωογονοῦντα ἡμῶν τάς ψυχάς, καί ἀπογεύοντα τῆς ἐνηδόνου γλυκύτητος τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐκείνων τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ, ἧς γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἀξιωθῆναι ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τούς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

Περί τοῦ ὅτι χρή καλῶς ὑποτάσσεσθαι καί μή ἐπιλανθάνεσθαι τῶν συνθηκῶν, ὧν πρός Θεόν συνεθέμεθα. Καί ὅτι οὐ δεῖ γογγίζειν ἐπί ταῖς

παννύχοις ἀγρυπνίαις τῶν ὄρθρων.

Λόγος Γ΄. (45) Ἀδελφοί καί πατέρες, ἀναμνησθέντες τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ προσταγμάτων οὕτω

λεγόντων· "Μή κρίνετε καί οὐ μή κριθῆτε", τούς ἀλλοτρίους βίους μηδαμῶς περιεργάζεσθε, ἅ δέ μᾶλλον λέγουσιν ἡμῖν οἱ ἱερεῖς ποιεῖν ποιεῖτε, κατά δέ τά ἔργα αὐτῶν μή ποιεῖτε, ὡς ἀκηκόατε. ∆ιό πείσθητέ μοι ὡς δοῦλοι Χριστοῦ, τῷ ἀναξίῳ, καί τήν ἐμήν ὀλιγοψυχίαν ῥᾳθυμίαν ἐάσαντες, φροντίσατε, παρακαλῶ, τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν καί ἀόκνως τάς ἐντολάς τοῦ Θεοῦ ποιεῖν σπεύσατε· καί κατ᾿ ἐμοῦ τοῦ ταπεινοῦ μή γογγίζετε, ὡς ἅπαξ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ἐξεργεθέντες τό μεσονύκτιον, ἀλλά μνησθέντες τοῦ εἰπόντος· "Μεσονύκτιον ἐξηγειρόμην τοῦ ἐξομολογήσασθαί σοι ἐπί τά κρίματα τῆς δικαιοσύνης σου", εὐχαριστήσατε τῷ Θεῷ μᾶλλον καί τῷ ὑμᾶς εἰς τήν αὐτοῦ δοξολογίαν διυπνίσαντι καί χάρητε καί σκιρτήσατε, ὅτι μετά τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων ἠξιώθητε ἀνυμνεῖν τόν Θεόν. Ὁ γάρ ἐπί τῇ συνήθει συνάξει ἀγανακτῶν καί ἐπί τῷ μήκει τῶν (46) ἀναπεμπομένων ὕμνων δυσχεραίνων καί κατακλώμενος, οὗτος ἀληθῶς οὐκ οἶδεν ὡς γλυκέα τά λόγια τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν τῷ λάρυγγι τῶν ἀγαπώντων αὐτόν καί ὑπέρ μέλι καί κηρίον ἐν τῷ στόματι τῶν ἐπιγινωσκόντων αὐτόν, ἀλλ᾿ ὅλος σάρξ ὤν καί σαρκικόν ἔχων τό φρόνημα καί σαρκικωτέραν τήν αἴσθησιν, πνευματικῶς οὐ δύναται γεύεσθαι τῶν εἰς εὐεργεσίαν ἡμῖν δοθέντων ἀπό Θεοῦ, ἀλλά πάντα πικρά τά κατά Θεόν αὐτῷ φαίνονται, καί τό "Γεύσασθε καί ἴδετε ὅτι χρηστός ὁ Κύριος" οὐκ ἐπίσταται. Ὁ δέ τοῦτο μή ἐναργῶς ἐπιστάμενος, τῆς ἀγάπης καί τῆς γλυκύτητος τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐναργῶς ἠλλοτρίωται. Ὁ δέ τούτων ἄγευστος καί ἀλλότριος - φεῦ μοι, ἐμόν τό ἀτύχημα, ἰδιοποιεῖσθαι γάρ προστέταγμαι τά ἀλλότρια ἐχθρός ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ξένος τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν· ποίαν γάρ ἄλλην, εἰπέ μοι, ἕξει ἐλπίδα ἤ τίνος ἄλλου ἀγάπην περιπλακήσεται καί παραμυθίαν εὑρήσει ἤ