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partaking, always increasing its magnitude by addition from itself. Therefore, if the blessed hunger has been understood by us, having vomited out all abundance that comes from wickedness, let us hunger for the righteousness of God, so that we may also come to its fullness, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON V.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Perhaps it is something such as this, which

by a certain vision Jacob was instructed through a riddle, seeing a ladder extending from earth to the height of heaven, and God established upon it, just as now the teaching through the beatitudes does for us, always lifting up to the higher thoughts those who ascend by it. For there, I think, for the patriarch the life of virtue was typified by the image of the ladder, so that he might both learn himself and might teach those after him, that it is not possible to be exalted to God in any other way, without always looking upwards, and having an unceasing desire for higher things, so as not to be content to remain at what has already been achieved, but to consider it a loss, if one does not grasp what lies above. And so here too the height of the successive beatitudes prepares one to approach God himself, who is truly blessed, and established upon all blessedness. And in every way, just as we approach the 44.1249 wise one through wisdom, and the pure one through purity, so also we are made akin to the blessed one through the way of the beatitudes. For blessedness is truly a property of God; for which reason Jacob related that God was established upon such a ladder. Therefore, the partaking of the beatitudes is nothing else, if not a communion with divinity, to which the Lord leads us up through the things that are said. It seems to me, therefore, that it deifies in a certain way, through the following instruction of the beatitude, the one who both hears and understands the word. For, he says, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. I know that in many places of the divine Scripture, holy men invoke the divine power by the name of 'the merciful'; thus David in the hymns; thus Jonah in his own prophecy; thus the great Moses in many parts of the legislation names the Divine. If, therefore, the title of 'the merciful' is fitting for God, what else does the word not invite you to become but a god, as it were, formed in the property of the divinity? For if God is called 'merciful' by the divinely-inspired Scripture, and the truly blessed is divinity, what is understood consequently would be clear, that even if a man becomes merciful, he is deemed worthy of divine blessedness, having become that by which the Divine is named. The Lord is merciful and just, and our God has mercy. How then is it not blessed for a man to be called and to become that, by which God is named from what He does? But to desire the greater gifts, the divine Apostle also advises through his own words; but our aim is not that we should be persuaded to desire good things (for this is automatically inherent in human nature, to be inclined toward the good), but that we might not err in our judgment of the good. For in this part especially our life goes astray, in not being able to understand accurately what is good by nature, and what is supposed to be such through deceit. For if wickedness were set before life naked, and not colored with some fantasy of the good, humankind would not have deserted to it. Therefore, we have need of understanding, for the comprehension of the saying before us, so that having been taught the true beauty of the inherent meaning, we might be formed according to it. For just as the conception of the Divine is naturally inherent in all men, but in ignorance of the truly existing God, an error occurs concerning that which is earnestly sought (for to some, the true divinity is

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μετέχοντας, πάντοτε τῇ παρ' ἑαυτῆς προσθήκῃ τὸ μέγεθος αὔξουσα. Οὐκοῦν εἰ νε νόηται ἡμῖν ἡ μακαριστὴ πεῖνα, πᾶσαν τὴν ἀπὸ κα κίας πληθώραν ἐμέσαντες, πεινάσωμεν τὴν δικαιο σύνην τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα καὶ εἰς πλησμονὴν αὐτῆς ἔλθω μεν, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΛΟΓΟΣ Εʹ.

Μακάριοι οἱ ἐλεήμονες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἐλεηθήσονται. Τάχα τι τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν, ὃ

διά τινος ὀπτασίας ὁ Ἰακὼβ δι' αἰνίγματος ἐπαιδεύθη, κλίμακα ἰδὼν ἀπὸ γῆς ἐπὶ τὸ οὐράνιον ὕψος διήκουσαν, καὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἐπ' αὐτῆς ἐστηριγμένον, οἷον δὴ νῦν καὶ ἡμῖν ἡ διὰ τῶν μακαρισμῶν διδασκαλία ποιεῖ, ἀεὶ πρὸς τὰ ὑψη λότερα τῶν νοημάτων τοὺς δι' αὐτῆς ἀνιόντας ἐπ αίρουσα. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖ τῷ πατριάρχῃ τὸν κατ' ἀρετὴν οἶμαι βίον τῷ εἴδει τῆς κλίμακος διατυποῦσθαι, ὡς ἂν αὐτός τε μάθοι καὶ τοῖς μετ' αὐτὸν ὑφηγήσαιτο, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλως πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὑψωθῆναι, μὴ ἀεὶ πρὸς τὰ ἄνω βλέποντα, καὶ τὴν τῶν ὑψηλῶν ἐπιθυ μίαν ἄληκτον ἔχοντα, ὡς μὴ ἀγαπᾷν ἐπὶ τῶν ἤδη κατορθωθέντων μένειν, ἀλλὰ ζημίαν ποιεῖσθαι, εἰ τοῦ ὑπερκειμένου μὴ ἅψαιτο. Καὶ ἐνταῦθα οὖν ὕψος τῶν ἐπ' ἀλλήλων μακαρισμῶν αὐτῷ προσεγγίζειν τῷ Θεῷ παρασκευάζει, τῷ ἀληθῶς μακαρίῳ, καὶ πάσης ἐπεστηριγμένῳ μακαριότητος. Πάντως δὲ, ὡς τῷ 44.1249 σοφῷ διὰ σοφίας, καὶ διὰ καθαρότητος τῷ καθαρῷ προσεγγίζομεν, οὕτω καὶ τῷ μακαρίῳ διὰ τῆς ὁδοῦ τῶν μακαρισμῶν οἰκειούμεθα. Θεοῦ γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἴδιον ἡ μακαριότης ἐστίν· διὸ καὶ ἐπεστηρίχθαι τῇ τοιαύτῃ κλίμακι ὁ Ἰακὼβ τὸν Θεὸν διηγήσατο. Ἡ οὖν τῶν μακαρισμῶν μετουσία οὐδὲν ἄλλο, εἰ μὴ θεό τητος κοινωνία ἐστὶ, πρὸς ἣν ἡμᾶς ἀνάγει διὰ τῶν λεγομένων ὁ Κύριος. ∆οκεῖ οὖν μοι θεοποιεῖν τρόπον τινὰ διὰ τῆς εἰς τὸ ἀκόλουθον προκειμένης τοῦ μακαρισμοῦ ὑφηγήσεως, τὸν ἀκούοντά τε καὶ συνιέντα τοῦ λόγου. Μακάριοι γὰρ, φησὶν, οἱ ἐλεήμονες, ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἐλεηθήσονται. Οἶδα πολλαχοῦ τῆς θείας Γραφῆς, τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ ἐλεήμονος τοὺς ἁγίους ἄνδρας τὴν θείαν δύναμιν προσκαλουμένους· οὕτως ὁ ∆αβὶδ ἐν ταῖς ὑμνῳδίαις· οὕτως Ἰωνᾶς ἐν τῇ καθ' ἑαυτὸν προφητείᾳ· οὕτως ὁ μέγας Μωϋσῆς ἐν πολλοῖς τῆς νομοθεσίας κατανομά ζει τὸ Θεῖον. Εἰ οὖν πρέπουσα τῷ Θεῷ ἡ προσηγορία τοῦ ἐλεήμονος· τί ἄλλο καὶ οὐχὶ θεόν σε προσκαλεῖται γενέσθαι ὁ λόγος, οἱονεὶ μορφωθέντα τῷ τῆς θεότητος ἰδιώματι; Εἰ γὰρ ἐλεήμων ὁ Θεὸς παρὰ τῆς θεοπνεύ στου Γραφῆς ὀνομάζεται· τὸ δὲ ἀληθῶς μακαριστὸν, ἡ θεότης ἐστί· φανερὸν ἂν εἴη τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ἀκολούθου νοούμενον, ὅτι κἂν ἄνθρωπός τις ὢν ἐλεήμων γένηται, τῆς θείας ἀξιοῦται μακαριότητος, ἐν ἐκείνῳ γενόμε νος, ᾧ τὸ Θεῖον κατονομάζεται. Ἐλεήμων ὁ Κύριος καὶ δίκαιος, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐλεεῖ. Πῶς οὖν οὐ μακάριον ἐκεῖνο κληθῆναι καὶ γενέσθαι τὸν ἄνθρω πον, ᾧπερ ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ ποῦ ποιεῖν ὀνομάζεται; ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ζηλοῦν τὰ μείζονα τῶν χαρισμάτων, συμβουλεύει διὰ τῶν ἰδίων λόγων καὶ ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος· ἡμῖν δὲ σκοπός ἐστιν, οὐχ ὅπως ἀναπεισθείημεν τῶν καλῶν ὀρέγεσθαι (τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτομάτως ἔγκειται τῇ ἀνθρω πίνῃ φύσει, τὸ πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ἐπιῤῥεπῶς ἔχειν)· ἀλλ' ὅπως ἂν μὴ ἁμάρτοιμεν τῆς τοῦ καλοῦ κρίσεως. Ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ μάλιστα τῷ μέρει πλημμελεῖται ἡμῶν ἡ ζωὴ, ἐν τῷ μὴ δύνασθαι ἀκριβῶς συνιέναι τί τὸ φύσει καλὸν, καὶ τί τὸ δι' ἀπάτης τοιοῦτον ὑπονοούμενον. Εἰ γὰρ γυμνὴ προέκειτο ἡ κακία τῷ βίῳ, καὶ μή τινι καλοῦ φαντασίᾳ προσκεχρωσμένη, οὐκ ἂν ηὐτομόλησε πρὸς αὐτὴν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον. Οὐκοῦν συνέσεως ἡμῖν χρεία, πρὸς τὴν τοῦ προκειμένου ῥητοῦ κατανόησιν, ὡς ἂν διδαχθέντες τὸ ἀληθινὸν τοῦ ἐγκειμένου νοή ματος κάλλος, κατ' αὐτὸ μορφωθείημεν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ περὶ τὸ Θεῖον ὑπόληψις, ἔγκειται μὲν πᾶσι φυσι κῶς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ ἀληθῶς ὄντος Θεοῦ, ἡ περὶ τὸ σπουδαζόμενον γίνεται δι αμαρτία (οἷς μὲν γὰρ ἡ ἀληθὴς θεότης ἐστὶ