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God-loving faith; the marks of love; as it joins people to God and to one another(3), and for this reason has the unfailing endurance of good things.

You, having become most genuine lovers of this divine and blessed 0405 way, and blessed ones, fight the good fight to reach the end, holding fast to those things by which the passage to its completion is made; I mean philanthropy, brotherly love, 15Β_070 hospitality, love of the poor, sympathy, almsgiving, humility, gentleness, meekness of temper, patience, freedom from anger, long-suffering, fortitude, kindness, forbearance, good-will, peace towards all; from which or through which the grace of love is fashioned, it leads to God the man who fashioned it, having been made divine. For love, says the divine Apostle, or rather Christ who spoke these things through him, is long-suffering, is kind, does not envy, does not vaunt itself, is not puffed up, does not behave unseemly, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not impute evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; endures all things. Love never fails, as it has God, the only one who is unfailing and unchangeable; and it makes the person living according to it such, so that accepting you He might say through Jeremiah the prophet: I say to you, This is the way of my commandments, and the law that endures forever. All who hold to it, we will attain to life; but those who forsake it will die. Take hold of it, my child, and walk toward the brightness before its light. Do not give your glory to another, nor what is profitable for you to a foreign nation. Blessed are you, for the things pleasing to God are known to you, and you have learned where there is wisdom, where there is strength, where there is long life and life. Where there is light for the eyes and peace, and you have set foot on the way, and I have appeared to you from afar. Therefore I will love you with an everlasting love, and I will have mercy on you with compassion, and I will build you, and you will be built; and you will go forth with the assembly of those who rejoice, because you have stood in the ways; and you have understood, and have asked for the everlasting paths of the Lord; and you have seen where the good way is, and you have walked in it, and have found 15Β_072 sanctification for your soul. And again through Isaiah: I am the Lord your God; I have shown you how to find the way of righteousness, in which you shall walk, and you have heard my commandments. Therefore your peace has become like a river, and your righteousness like a wave of the sea. And I, exulting in your good things, will dare to say with God, taking it from the great Jeremiah: Blessed are you, for you have put off the garment of mourning for your affliction; I mean the old man, who is being corrupted according to the desires of deceit; and you have put on the beauty of the glory from God forever, I mean the new man, who in spirit is being created according to Christ in the image 0408 of the Creator; and you have wrapped yourself in the double robe of righteousness from God; and you have placed on your head the mitre of eternal glory; being adorned both by the steady way of the virtues, and by the unerring word of wisdom. For this reason God will show your splendor to all that is under heaven, and your name will be called Peace of Righteousness, and Glory of Godliness.

I have nothing more than these words to prove the unseen disposition of your soul; for I have nothing worthy of your good things to offer to God and to you, except to admire you according to my ability, and to approve of you as you succeed, and to rejoice with you as you propitiate God through good works; and through you to praise virtue; and through virtue to hymn God, which joins you to God. So that it seems to me to be the same and equal, to praise both you and virtue, and to hymn God, the one who has graciously given you the splendor of virtue; which makes you divine for God according to grace, by the assumption, as far as is possible for a human being, of the divine properties.

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πίστιν φιλόθεον· τά τῆς ἀγάπης γνωρίσματα· ὡς Θεῷ καί ἀλλήλοις τούς ἀνθρώπους συνάπτουσα(3), καί διά τοῦτο τῶν ἀγαθῶν τήν διαμονήν ἀδιάπτωτον ἔχουσα.

Ταύτης ἐρασταί γνησιώτατοι τῆς θείας καί μακαρίας 0405 ὁδοῦ, καί ὑμεῖς εὐλογημένοι γενόμενοι, πρός τό τέλος ἐλθεῖν ἀγῶνα καλόν ἀγωνίσασθε, τῶν οἷς ἡ πρός τό πέρας ταύτης διάβασις γίνεται, κραταιῶς ἀντεχόμενοι· φιλανθρωπίας λέγω, φιλαδελφίας, 15Β_070 φιλοξενίας, φιλοπτωχίας, συμπαθείας, ἐλεημοσύνης, ταπεινώσεως, πραότητος, πραϋπαθείας, ὑπομονῆς, ἀοργησίας, μακροθυμίας, καρτερίας, χρηστότητος, ἀνοχῆς, εὐνοίας, εἰρήνης πρός πάντας· ἐξ ὧν ἤ δι᾿ ὧν ἡ τῆς ἀγάπης χάρις δημιουργημένη, πρός τόν Θεόν ἄγει θεουργηθέντα τόν δημιουργήσαντα ἄνθρωπον. Ἡ ἀγάπη γάρ, φησίν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, μᾶλλον δέ ὁ δι᾿ αὐτοῦ ταῦτα λαλήσας Χριστός, μακροθυμεῖ, χρηστεύεται, οὐ ζηλοῖ, οὐ περπερεύεται, οὐ φυσιοῦται, οὐκ ἀσχημονεῖ, οὐ ζητεῖ τά ἑαυτῆς, οὐ παροξύνεται, οὐ λογίζεται τό κακόν, οὐ χαίρει ἐπί τῇ ἀδικίᾳ, συγχαίρει δέ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ· πάντα ὑπομένει. Ἡ ἀγάπη οὐδέποτε πίπτει, ὡς Θεόν ἔχουσα τόν μόνον ἀδιάπτωτον καί ἀναλλοίωτον· καί τόν κατ᾿ αὐτήν ζῶντα ἄνθρωπον τοιοῦτον ἀπεργαζομένη, ἵνα καί ὑμᾶς ἀποδεξάμενος εἴπῃ δι᾿ Ἱερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου· Λέγω ὑμῖν, Αὕτη ἡ ὁδός τῶν προσταγμάτων μου, καί ὁ νόμος ὁ ὑπάρχων εἰς τόν αἰῶνα. Πάντες οἱ κρατοῦντες αὐτήν, εἰς ζωήν καταντήσωμεν· οἱ δέ καταλιπόντες αὐτήν , ἀποθανοῦνται. Ἐπιλαβοῦ αὐτῆς ὁ παῖς μου, καί ὅδευσον πρός τήν λάμψιν κατέναντι τοῦ φωτός αὐτῆς. Μή δῷς ἑτέρῳ τήν δόξαν σου, καί τά συμφέροντά σοι, ἔθνει ἀλλοτρίῳ. Μακάριος εἶ, ὅτι τά ἀρεστά τῷ Θεῷ γνωστά σοί ἐστι, καί ἔμαθες ποῦ ἐστι φρόνησις, ποῦ ἐστιν ἰσχύς, ποῦ ἐστι μακροβίωσις καί ζωή. Ποῦ ἐστι φῶς ὀφθαλμῶν καί εἰρήνη, καί ἐπέβης τῆς ὁδοῦ, καί ὤφθην σοι πόῤῥωθεν. ∆ιά τοῦτο ἀγάπησιν αἰωνίαν ἀγαπήσω σε, καί ἐλεήσω σε εἰς οἰκτείρημα, καί οἰκοδομήσω σε, καί οἰκοδομηθήσῃ· καί ἐξελεύσῃ μετά συναγωγῆς εὐφραινομένων, ὅτι ἐπί ταῖς ὁδοῖς ἔστης· καί κατενόησας, καί ἠρώτησας τρίβους Κυρίου αἰωνίους· καί εἶδες ποῦ ἐστιν ἡ ὁδός ἡ ἀγαθή, καί ἐβάδισας ἐν αὐτῇ, καί εὗρες 15Β_072 ἁγιασμόν τῇ ψυχῇ σου. Καί πάλιν διά Ἡσαΐου· Ἐγώ εἰμί ὁ Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου· δέδειχά σοι τοῦ εὑρεῖν τήν ὁδόν τῆς δικαιοσύνης, ἐν ᾗ πορεύσῃ ἐν αὐτῇ, καί ἤκουσας τῶν ἐντολῶν μου. ∆ιά τοῦτο ἐγένετο ὡς ποταμός ἡ εἰρήνη σου, καί ἡ δικαιοσύνη σου ὡς κῦμα θαλάσσης. Κἀγώ δέ ὁ τοῖς ὑμετέροις ἐπαγαλλόμενος ἀγαθοῖς, μετά τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγειν τολμήσω, παρά τοῦ μεγάλου λαβών Ἱερεμίου· Μακάριος εἶ, ὅτι ἐξεδύσω τήν στολήν τοῦ πένθους τῆς κακώσεώς σου· τόν παλαιόν φημι ἄνθρωπον, τόν φθειρόμενον κατά τάς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης· καί ἐνεδύσω τήν εὐπρέπειαν τῆς παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ δόξης εἰς τόν αἰῶνα, τόν νέον φημί ἄνθρωπον, τόν ἐν πνεύματι κατά Χριστόν κτιζόμενον κατ᾿ εἰκόνα 0408 τοῦ Κτίσαντος· καί περιεβάλου τήν διπλοϊδα τῆς παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ δικαιοσύνης· καί ἐπέθου τῇ κεφαλῇ τήν μίτραν τῆς δόξης τῆς αἰωνίου· τῷ τε βασίμῳ τρόπῳ τῶν ἀρετῶν, καί τῷ τῆς σοφίας ἀπταίστῳ λόγῳ κοσμούμενος. ∆ιά τοῦτο δείξει ὁ Θεός τῇ ὑπ οὐρανόν πάσῃ τήν σήν λαμπρότητα καί καλέσει τό ὄνομά σου Εἰρήνη δικαιοσύνης, καί δόξα θεοσεβείας.

Τούτων ἐγώ τῶν λόγων οὐδέ πλέον πρός ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἀφανοῦς κατά ψυχήν διαθέσεως κέκτημαι· οὐ γάρ ἔχω τι τῶν ὑμετέρων ἐπάξιον ἀγαθῶν, Θεῷ καί ὑμῖν προσενέγκαι, πλήν τοῦ θαυμάζειν ὑμᾶς κατά δύναμιν, καί ἀποδέχεσθαι κατορθοῦντας, καί συνήδεσθαι, Θεόν δι᾿ ἔργων ἀγαθῶν ἱλεουμένοις· καί δι᾿ ὑμῶν τήν ἀρετήν ἐπαινεῖν· καί διά τῆς ἀρετῆς τόν Θεόν ἀνυμνεῖν, τήν ὑμᾶς τῷ Θεῷ συνάπτουσαν. Ὡς ταὐτόν μοι δοκεῖν εἶναι καί ἴσον, ὑμᾶς τε καί ἀρετήν ἐπαινέσαι, καί Θεόν ἀνυμνῆσαι, τόν χαρισάμενον ὑμῖν τῆς ἀρετῆς τήν λαμπρότητα· τήν ὑμᾶς μέν Θεῷ κατά χάριν θεουργοῦσαν, τῇ ἀναλήψει κατά τό ἐφικτόν ἀνθρώπῳ τῶν θείων ἰδιωμάτων.