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having stripped choirs and those who were clothed, and not only not gathering strangers, but even driving them away, and not only not visiting the sick, but even crushing them further, and not only not seeing those in bonds, but even preparing for those who were free to be thrown into prison, consider how great a punishment they will undergo. Then, therefore, you will see them being fried, being burned, being bound, gnashing their teeth, wailing, lamenting then in vain and repenting unprofitably and without gain, just like that rich man. These too will see you again in that blessed end, wearing a crown, dancing with the angels, reigning with Christ, and they will cry out much and will lament, repenting of the ways they insolently treated you, and offering supplication to you and remembering mercy and philanthropy, and it will profit them nothing. 8.11 Considering all these things, therefore, sing them continuously to your soul and you will be able to scatter this dust. But since there is also something else, as I think, that particularly pains you, come, let us prepare the remedy for this consideration also, with what has been said and what we will now say. For I think that you are grieved not only on account of these things, but also on account of being separated from our nothingness, and that you lament this continually and say to everyone: ‘We do not hear that tongue, nor do we enjoy the customary teaching, but we are shut up in a famine; and what God then threatened the Hebrews with, this we now endure, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of divine teaching.’ What then shall we say to these things? That you are especially able, even in our absence, to converse with our books. And we too shall make an effort, if we happen upon letter-carriers, to send you continuous and frequent and long letters. But if you wish to hear from us by a living voice, perhaps this too will happen and you will see us again, God permitting; or rather, not perhaps, but certainly; and have no doubt. For we will remind you that we have not said these things in vain, nor to deceive you and mislead you, but you will also hear from a living voice what you now hear through letters. But if the delay grieves you, consider that not even this is unprofitable for you, but will bring you a great reward for enduring and for not uttering any bitter word, but for glorifying God even for these things, which indeed you continually do. For this is no small contest, but one that requires a very vigorous soul and a philosophic mind, to bear the separation from a beloved soul. Who says these things? If anyone knows how to love genuinely, if anyone understands the power of love, he knows what I am saying. But lest we go about seeking those who love genuinely—for this is rare—let us run to the blessed Paul and he will tell us how great this contest is and how great a soul it requires. For this Paul, who had stripped off the flesh and laid aside the body and went about the inhabited world almost with a naked soul, and banished every passion from his mind and imitated the impassibility of the incorporeal powers, and inhabited the earth as heaven, and stood above with the Cherubim and shared with them in that mystical melody, bore all other things easily, as if suffering in another's body, both prisons and chains and banishments and scourgings and threats and death and being stoned and being drowned and every form of punishment. But having been separated from one beloved soul, he was so confused and disturbed as to immediately leap away from the city in which he had expected to see the beloved one but did not find him. And Troas is a witness to these things for him, which was for this reason left behind by him, because it was not able to show him that man at that time. ‘For when I came,’ he says, ‘to Troas for the gospel of Christ and a door for me

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χοροὺς καὶ ἐνδεδυμένους γυμνώσαντες καὶ ξένους ὄντας οὐ μόνον οὐ συναγαγόντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐλάσαντες, καὶ ἀρρωστοῦντας οὐ μόνον οὐκ ἐπισκεψάμενοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπιπλεῖον συντρίψαντες, καὶ οὐ μόνον δεδεμένους οὐκ ἰδόντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ λελυμένους εἰς δεσμωτήριον παρασκευάσαντες ἐμβαλέσθαι, ἐννόησον ὅσην ὑποστήσονται τιμωρίαν. Τότε τοίνυν ὄψει αὐτοὺς ἀποτηγανιζομένους, κατακαιομένους, δεδεμένους, τοὺς ὀδόντας βρύχοντας, ὀλοφυρομένους, ἀνόνητα λοιπὸν θρηνοῦντας καὶ ἀνωφελῆ μετανοοῦντας καὶ ἀκερδῆ, καθάπερ ὁ πλούσιος ἐκεῖνος. Ὄψονταί σε καὶ οὗτοι πάλιν ἐν τῇ μακαρίᾳ λήξει ἐκείνῃ στεφανηφοροῦσαν, μετὰ τῶν ἀγγέλων χορεύουσαν, τῷ Χριστῷ συμβασιλεύουσαν, καὶ βοήσονται πολλὰ καὶ θρηνήσουσι μεταγινώσκοντες ἐφ' οἷς εἰς σὲ ἐπαροίνησαν καὶ ἱκετηρίαν σοι προστιθέντες καὶ ἐλέους μεμνημένοι καὶ φιλανθρωπίας, καὶ οὐδὲν ἔσται πλέον αὐτοῖς. 8.11 Ταῦτα οὖν ἅπαντα λογιζομένη ἔπᾳδε συνεχῶς σου τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ τὴν κόνιν ταύτην διασκεδάσαι δυνήσῃ. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ ἕτερόν τί ἐστι, ὡς ἔγωγε οἶμαι, τὸ μάλιστά σε ὀδυνῶν φέρε καὶ τούτῳ τῷ λογισμῷ κατασκευάσωμεν τὸ φάρμακον μετὰ τῶν εἰρημένων καὶ ἃ νῦν ἐροῦμεν. Καὶ γὰρ οἶμαί σε ἀλγεῖν οὐ διὰ ταῦτα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τὸ κεχωρίσθαι τῆς οὐδενείας τῆς ἡμετέρας, καὶ τοῦτο διηνεκῶς θρηνεῖν σε καὶ πρὸς ἅπαντας λέγειν· «Οὐκ ἀκούομεν τῆς γλώσσης ἐκείνης, οὐδὲ ἀπολαύομεν τῆς συνήθους διδασκαλίας, ἀλλὰ ἐν λιμῷ κατακεκλείσμεθα· καὶ ὅπερ ἠπείλησεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς Ἑβραίοις τότε, τοῦτο νῦν ὑπομένομεν, οὐ λιμὸν ἄρτου, οὐδὲ δίψαν ὕδατος, ἀλλὰ λιμὸν θείας διδασκαλίας.» Τί οὖν ἡμεῖς πρὸς ταῦτα ἐροῦμεν; Ὅτι μάλιστα μὲν ἔξεστί σοι καὶ ἀπόντων ἡμῶν ὁμιλεῖν τοῖς βιβλίοις τοῖς ἡμετέροις. Καὶ ἡμεῖς δὲ σπουδὴν ποιησόμεθα, ἂν ἐπιτυγχάνωμεν γραμματηφόρων, συνεχεῖς σοι καὶ πυκνὰς καὶ μακρὰς πέμπειν ἐπιστολάς. Εἰ δὲ καὶ παρὰ ζώσης φωνῆς βούλει τὰ παρ' ἡμῶν ἀκούειν, ἴσως καὶ τοῦτο ἔσται καὶ ἡμᾶς ὄψει πάλιν, τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιτρέποντος· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ ἴσως, ἀλλὰ πάντως· καὶ μηδὲν ἀμφίβαλλε. Ἀναμνήσομεν γάρ σε ὅτι οὐκ εἰκῆ ταῦτα εἰρήκαμεν, οὐδὲ ἀπατῶντές σε καὶ παραλογιζόμενοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ ζώσης ἀκούσῃ φωνῆς ἃ διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων νῦν. Εἰ δὲ ἡ μέλλησίς σε λυπεῖ, ἐννόησον ὅτι οὐδὲ αὕτη ἀκερδής σοι γίνεται, ἀλλὰ πολὺν οἴσει σοι τὸν μισθὸν καρτερούσῃ καὶ μηδὲν ἐκφερούσῃ πικρὸν ῥῆμα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὲρ τούτων τὸν Θεὸν δοξαζούσῃ, ὃ δὲ καὶ διατελοῦσα ποιεῖς. Οὐδὲ γὰρ μικρὸς οὗτος ἆθλος, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφόδρα νεανικῆς δεόμενος ψυχῆς καὶ φιλοσόφου διανοίας, ὥστε ἀγαπωμένης ψυχῆς ἐνεγκεῖν χωρισμόν. Τίς ταῦτά φησιν; Εἴ τις οἶδε φιλεῖν γνησίως, εἴ τις ἐπίσταται δύναμιν ἀγάπης, οἶδεν ὃ λέγω. Ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ περιιόντες ζητῶμεν τοὺς γνησίως φιλοῦντας-καὶ γὰρ σπάνιον τοῦτο-, δράμωμεν ἐπὶ τὸν μακάριον Παῦλον κἀκεῖνος ἡμῖν ἐρεῖ ἡλίκος οὗτος ὁ ἆθλος καὶ ἡλίκης δεόμενος ψυχῆς. Οὗτος γὰρ ὁ Παῦλος ὁ τὴν σάρκα ἀποδυσάμενος καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἀποθέμενος καὶ γυμνῇ σχεδὸν τὴν οἰκουμένην περιιὼν τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ πᾶν πάθος ἐξορίσας τῆς διανοίας καὶ τῶν ἀσωμάτων δυνάμεων τὴν ἀπάθειαν μιμούμενος καὶ τὴν γῆν ὡς τὸν οὐρανὸν οἰκῶν καὶ μετὰ τῶν Χερουβὶμ ἑστὼς ἄνω καὶ τῆς μυστικῆς ἐκείνης μελῳδίας αὐτοῖς κοινωνῶν, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα πάντα ῥᾳδίως ἔφερεν, ὡς ἐν ἀλλοτρίῳ πάσχων σώματι, καὶ δεσμωτήρια καὶ ἁλύσεις καὶ ἀπαγωγὰς καὶ μάστι γας καὶ ἀπειλὰς καὶ θάνατον καὶ τὸ καταλεύεσθαι καὶ τὸ καταποντίζεσθαι καὶ πᾶν κολάσεως εἶδος. Μιᾶς δὲ ψυχῆς ἀγαπωμένης παρ' αὐτοῦ χωρισθείς, οὕτω συνεχύθη καὶ διεταράχθη ὡς εὐθέως καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἀποπηδῆσαι ἐν ᾗ τὸν ἀγαπώμενον προσδοκῶν ἰδεῖν οὐχ εὗρεν. Καὶ ταῦτα αὐτῷ σύνοιδεν ἡ Τρωὰς ἡ διὰ τοῦτο καταλειφθεῖσα παρ' αὐτοῦ, ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἔσχεν ἐπιδεῖξαι αὐτῷ τότε ἐκεῖνον. «Ἐλθὼν γάρ, φησίν, εἰς τὴν Τρωάδα εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θύρας μοι