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for all edification and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us for a share of the inheritance of the saints in light.”

A clear proof of this grace is the voluntary shared disposition through goodwill toward our kindred, whose work it is, like God, to make one's own according to one's ability the person needing our assistance in any way whatsoever, and not to leave him neglected and unprovided for, but with fitting diligence to show in deed the living disposition in us toward both God and neighbor. For a deed is the proof of a disposition. For nothing is so easy for righteousness, nor is anything so suitable for deification—so to speak—that is, nearness to God, as mercy from the soul offered to those in need with pleasure and joy. For if the Word has shown that the one needing to be well-treated is God; 14__156 "For inasmuch," he says, "as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.” But the one who said this is God, and much more will he show that the one who is able to do good, and does it, is truly God by grace and participation, as one who has taken up His energy and property of beneficence in a way worthy of imitation. And if the poor one is God, on account of the condescension of God who became poor for our sakes, and who sympathetically receives upon Himself the sufferings of each person and who mystically suffers through goodness always until the consummation of the age, in proportion to the suffering in each one, then evidently, according to the likely account, he will be more of a God, who in imitation of God through love for mankind heals the sufferings of the afflicted through himself in a manner befitting God, and is shown to have by disposition the same power as God in proportion to His saving providence.

Who then is so slow and sluggish toward virtue, as not to long for divinity, when its acquisition is so cheap, so easily procured, and so easy? But a secure and inviolable guardian of these things, and an easy road to salvation—without which, I think, in truth none of the good things will be preserved unharmed for the one who has them—is minding one's own business, or rather, attending to one's own affairs, through which, learning to examine and consider only our own affairs, we are freed from having empty harm from others. For if we learn to see and examine ourselves alone, we will never attack the affairs of others, however they may be; knowing the one and only wise and just judge, God, who judges all things that happen wisely and justly, according to the principle 14__158 by which it has happened, but not according to the manner in which it has been revealed; which perhaps men might also be able to judge, looking dimly at what is apparent, wherein the truth is not entirely found, nor the principle of things that happen. But God, seeing the hidden movement of the soul, and the unseen impulse, and the very principle according to which the soul was moved, and the purpose of the principle, that is, the end preconceived for every matter, judges justly, as I said, all things that are done by men. If we are zealous to accomplish this rightly, and we limit ourselves to ourselves, not meddling with external things, we will not let the eye, or the ear, or the tongue see, or hear, or speak of the affairs of others—if it is possible, at all, but if not, rather to act in these things sympathetically, but not passionately, permitting them to see and to hear and to speak for our own profit, and only so much as seems good to the divine Word that holds their reins. For none of these instruments is more prone to slip into sin, when not disciplined by reason; and again, none of them is more ready for salvation, when reason orders them and regulates them and leads them to what it must and wishes.

Let us not then neglect, according to our ability, to obey God, who calls us to eternal life and a blessed end through the practice of His divine and saving commandments, so that we may receive mercy, and find grace for timely help;

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εἰς πᾶσαν οἰκοδομὴν καὶ μακροθυμίαν μετὰ χαρᾶς, εὐχαριστοῦντες τῷ Πατρί, τῷ ἱκανώσαντι ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν μερίδα τοῦ κλήρου τῶν ἁγίων ἐν τῷ φωτί».

Σαφὴς δὲ τῆς χάριτος ταύτης ἐστὶν ἀπόδειξις ἡ πρὸς τὸ συγγενὲς δι᾽ εὐνοίας ἑκούσιος συνδιάθεσις, ἧς ἔργον ἐστίν, ὡς Θεόν, οἰκειοῦσθαι κατὰ δύναμιν τὸν καθ᾽ ὁτιοῦν τῆς ἡμῶν ἐπικουρίας δεόμενον ἄνθρωπον, καὶ μὴ ἐᾷν ἀτημέλητον καὶ ἀπρονόητον, ἀλλὰ σπουδῇ τῇ πρεπούσῃ κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν ἐνδείκνυσθαι ζῶσαν τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν πρός τε τὸν Θεὸν καὶ τὸν πλησίον διάθεσιν. Ἔργον γὰρ ἀπόδειξις διαθέσεως. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὔτε πρὸς δικαιοσύνην οὕτω ῥᾴδιόν ἐστιν, οὔτε πρὸς θέωσινἵν᾽ οὕτως εἴπωτὴν πρὸς Θεὸν ἐγγύτητα καθέστηκεν ἐπιτήδειον, ὡς ἔλεος ἐκ ψυχῆς εἰς τοὺς δεομένους μεθ᾽ ἡδονῆς καὶ χαρᾶς προσφερόμενος. Εἰ γὰρ Θεὸν ὁ Λόγος τὸν εὗ παθεῖν δεόμενον ἔδειξεν· 14__156 "Ἐφ᾽ ὅσον γὰρ ἐποιήσατε, φησίν, ἑνὶ τούτων τῶν ἐλαχίστων, ἐμοὶ ἐποιήσατε». Θεὸς δὲ ὁ εἰπών, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὸν εὖ ποιεῖν δυνάμενον καὶ ποιοῦντα, δείξει ἀληθῶς κατὰ χάριν καὶ μέθεξιν ὄντα Θεόν, ὡς τὴν αὐτοῦ τῆς εὐεργεσίας εὐμιμήτως ἀνειλημμένον ἐνέργειάν τε καὶ ἰδιότητα. Καὶ εἰ Θεὸς ὁ πτωχός, διὰ τὴν τοῦ δι᾽ ἡμᾶς πτωχεύσαντος Θεοῦ συγκατάβασιν, καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἑκάστου συμπαθῶς ἀναδεχομένου πάθη καὶ μέχρι τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τοῦ ἐν ἑκάστῳ πάθους ἀεὶ δι᾽ ἀγαθότητα πάσχοντος μυστικῶς, πλέον δηλονότι κατὰ τὸν εἰκότα λόγον ἔσται Θεός, ὁ κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν τὰ τῶν παθόντων πάθη δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ θεοπρεπῶς ἐξιώμενος, καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν τῷ Θεῷ κατὰ ἀναλογίαν τῆς σωστικῆς προνοίας κατὰ διάθεσιν ἔχων δεικνύμενος δύναμιν.

Τίς οὖν ἄρα πρὸς ἀρετὴν οὕτω βραδύς ἐστι καὶ δυσκίνητος, ὥστε μὴ ἐφίεσθαι θεότητος, οὕτως εὐώνου τε καὶ εὐπορίστου καὶ ῥᾳδίας οὔσης τῆς κτήσεως; Ἀσφαλὴς δὲ τούτων ἐστὶ καὶ ἄσυλος φυλακή, καὶ εὐμαρὴς πρὸς σωτηρίαν ὁδός· ἧς, οἶμαι, χωρὶς κατ᾽ ἀλήθειαν οὐδὲν ἔσται τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀβλαβῶς τῷ ἔχοντι συντηρούμενον· ἡ αὐτοπραγία, εἴτουν ἰδιοπραγία, δι᾽ ἧς τὰ καθ᾽ ἑαυτοὺς σκοπεῖν τε καὶ διασκέπτεσθαι μόνους μανθάνοντες τοῦ παρ᾽ ἄλλων διακενῆς βλάβην ἔχειν ἐλευθερούμεθα. Εἰ γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς μόνους ὁρᾷν τε καὶ ἐτάζειν μάθοιμεν, οὐδέποτε τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων, ὡς δ᾽ ἂν ἔχοντα τύχωσιν, ἐπιθησόμεθα· γινώσκοντες ἕνα μόνον κριτὴν σοφόν τε καὶ δίκαιον τὸν Θεόν, τὸν σοφῶς τε καὶ δικαίως πάντα τὰ γινόμενα κρίνοντα, καθ᾽ ὃν γεγένηται 14__158 λόγον, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ καθ᾽ ὃν πεφανέρωται τρόπον· ὃν ἴσως ἂν δύναιντο καὶ ἄνθρωποι κρίνειν, ἀμυδρῶς εἰς τὸ φαινόμενον βλέποντες, περὶ ὃ οὐ πάντως ἐστὶν ἡ ἀλήθεια, οὐδὲ τῶν γινομένων λόγος. Ὁ δὲ Θεὸς τὸ ἀφανές τε κίνημα τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ τὴν ἀόρατον ὁρμήν, καὶ τὸν λόγον αὐτόν, καθ᾽ ὃν ὥρμηται ἡ ψυχή, καὶ τὸν τοῦ λόγου σκοπόν, τουτέστι τὸ παντὸς πράγματος προεπινοούμενον τέλος βλέπων, κρίνει δικαίως, ὡς ἔφην, πάντα τὰ παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων πραττόμενα ὅπερ εἰ κατορθῶσαι σπουδάσομεν, καὶ ἑαυτοῖς ἑαυτοὺς περιορίσομεν τοῖς ἐκτὸς οὐκ ἐπιφυόμενοι, οὔτε ὁρᾷν, οὔτε ἀκούειν, οὔτε λαλεῖν, τὸν ὀφθαλμόν, ἢ τὸ οὖς, ἢ τὴν γλῶσσαν τὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἀφήσομεν, εἰ μὲν οἷόν τέ ἐστι, παντελῶς, εἰ δὲ μήγε, συμπαθῶς μᾶλλον, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ μὴ ἐμπαθῶς τούτοις ἐνεργεῖν, καὶ εἰς κέρδος ἡμέτερον ὁρᾷν τε καὶ ἀκούειν, καὶ λαλεῖν ἐπιτρέποντες καὶ τοσοῦτον μόνον, ὅσον τῷ ἡνιοχοῦντι ταῦτα θείῳ λόγῳ δοκεῖ. Οὐδὲν γὰρ τούτων τῶν ὀργάνων πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν ἐστὶν εὐολισθότερον, μὴ λόγῳ παιδαγωγουμένων· καὶ οὐδὲν πάλιν πρὸς σωτηρίαν αὐτῶν ἑτοιμότερον, τάσσοντος αὐτὰ τοῦ λόγου καὶ ῥυθμίζοντος καὶ ἐφ᾽ ἃ δεῖ καὶ βούλεται ἄγοντος.

Μὴ τοίνυν ἀμελήσωμεν κατὰ δύναμιν τοῦ πείθεσθαι τῷ Θεῷ, καλοῦντι ἡμᾶς εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον καὶ μακάριον τέλος διὰ τῆς ἐργασίας τῶν αὐτοῦ θείων τε καὶ σωτηρίων ἐντολῶν, ἵνα λάβωμεν ἔλεος, καὶ χάριν εὕρωμεν εἰς εὔκαιρον βοήθειαν·