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a man's slave remains so even after death. According to this meaning Paul also writes: "If meat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat," instead of: for life. "they did not hear the voice of a tax-collector." For this age is filled with tribute, in which one has come here to live for the sake of a dispensation. For there are many who, having come under the yoke of sin, offer tributes and taxes to the adversary. The prophet Jeremiah lamented Jerusalem, having become liable for such tributes, saying about her: "she who was a princess among the provinces has become a tributary." which is an assembly of faithful souls or .........a of its own freedom to the most cruel tyrant .........w has subjected itself. ..... these saints also showing .. the thing in the gospel when ῃαξατ 78 ῃαξατ ῃαξατ ῃαξατ but it is the mark of kings not to be subject to tribute. These, therefore, who are freed from temporal things, either by not having experienced them or, even after experience, being above them, are in either case outside the tribute of foreign things, not to those who cause temptation ........ ... ῃαξατ "The small and great are there, and the servant fearing the lord and having found shade." The impartiality of the one who governs is shown in the preceding words. For a master does not enter into life in one way and a slave or a poor man in another. For Wisdom does not proclaim in: "some king or tyrant" some "other beginning of birth"; for "there is one entrance into life for all, and a like departure," even if it was different according to its course. These were not born in another way. But also the servant who serves the lord, even if he is not a master but a slave of the lord throughout the whole 79 way, finds shade, so that from this shade, which has the character of a symbol, he may be led up from the laws given here also to the heavenly commonwealth. It can also be understood in another way: in this temporal life a difference of small and great and slave has been established, greed having introduced this variety. But in the age to come "there is not male," says Paul, "and female, there is not slave nor free." And he would likewise say that there is neither rich nor poor, but the demonstration of works, according to which it will come to pass that the one who in this life is small or a slave will there be considered great and free. For "I have seen," he says, "slaves on horses and" ῃαξατ everything that is considered great is found there in punishment. But perhaps it is also possible this way, that the one who from here is great in every respect according to virtue will be found so there also, and the small likewise. According to this thought, the saying in Ecclesiastes has also been interpreted as follows: "wherever 80 the tree falls, there it will remain," calling man a tree, who if he has fallen in punishment, that is, if he has reached the end of this life being in sins, so "he will be there." And if in virtue, likewise; for "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body." And the servant who serves God intelligently is there, finding shade and rest, having escaped the heat of life; "a discerning son is saved from heat," not burned by the heat like those in the parable who did not receive the seed in depth and fell prey to the flame of sin. This promise is spoken to David in the Psalms: "the sun will not burn you by day, nor the moon by night," which we do not find to be true according to the literal meaning. For he himself, being righteous, was worn down by the perceptible heat, while being unworn by the heat of sin. For it is common for the righteous and the unrighteous to perceive things that befall them from without, but it is peculiar to the virtuous to escape the 81 heat that comes from evil. "Why is light given to those in bitterness, and life to the souls in anguish; who long for death, but do not find it, digging for it as for hidden treasures, and rejoice exceedingly if they should attain it." The saint examines the hidden and not manifest to all judgment of providence, of instruction

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ἀνθρώπου τις δοῦλος μένει καὶ μετὰ τὸν θάνατον. κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ σημαινόμενον καὶ Παῦλος γράφει· "εἰ κρέα σκανδαλίζει τὸν ἀδελφόν μου, οὐ μὴ φάγω κρέας εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα", ἀντὶ τοῦ· διὰ βίου. "οὐκ ἤκουσαν φωνὴν φορολόγου." ε̣ἰσφορᾶς γὰρ πεπλήρωται οὗτος ὁ αἰών, ἐν ᾧ διάγων οἰκ̣ονομίας χάριν ἐνταῦθα ἧκεν. πολλοὶ γὰρ εἰσίν, ὅσοι ὑπὸ τὸ ζυγὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας γεγενημένοι φόρους καὶ τέλη τῶι ἀντικειμένῳ παρέχουσιν. τοιού τοις φόροις ὑπόχρεων γεγενημένην τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὁ προφήτης Ἰερημίας ἐθρήνει λέγων περὶ αὐτῆς· "ἄρχουσα ἐν χώραις ἐγενήθη εἰς φόρον." ἥτις ἐστὶν πιστω῀̣ν̣ ψυχῶν σύνοδος ἢ ·········α τῆς οἰκείας ἐλευθερίας τῷ ὠμοτάτῳ τυράννῳ ······ω ὑπέταξεν ἑαυτήν. ····· ἁ´̣γ̣ι̣οι οὗτοι καὶ δεικνύντες ·· τὸ ἐν τῶι εὐαγγελίῳ ὁπηνίκα ῃαξατ 78 ῃαξατ ῃαξατ ῃαξατ βασιλέων δέ ἐστιν τὸ μὴ εἰ῀̣ναι ὑποτελεῖς. οὗτοι οὖν οἱ ἀπολελυμένοι τῶν προσκαίρων ἢ διὰ τὸ μὴ πεπειρᾶσθαι αὐτῶν ἢ καὶ μετὰ πεῖραν ἀνωτέρω αὐτῶν ὄντες, ἑκατέρως δὲ ἀλλ̣οτρίων ἔξω φόρου εἰσὶν μὴ τοῖς πειρασμὸν ἐνποιοῦσιν ······ ··· ῃαξατ "ὁ μικρὸς καὶ μέγας ε ἐκεῖ ἐστιν, καὶ θεράπων δεδοικὼς τὸν κύριον καὶ τετευχὼς σκιᾶς." τὸ ἀπροσωπόλημπτον τοῦ διοικοῦντος ἐν τοῖς προκειμένοις δείκνυται. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἑτέρως κύριος καὶ ἑτέρως δοῦλος ἢ πένης εἰς τὸν βίον εἰσέρχεται. οὐ γὰρ ἐν τῷ· "βασιλεύς τις ἢ τύραννος" ἡ Σοφία διαγορεύει "ἑτέραν" τινὰ "γενέσεως ἀρχήν"· "μία" γὰρ "πάντων εἴσοδος εἰς τὸν βίον ἔξοδός τε ἴση", καὶ εἰ διάφορος κατὰ τὴν κίνησιν ὑπῆρξεν. οὗτοι οὐχ ἑτέρως ἐγεννήθησαν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ θεράπων ὁ τῷ κυρίῳ ὑπηρετούμενος, εἰ καὶ μὴ κύριός ἐστιν ἀλλὰ δοῦλος κυρίου διὰ πάσης 79 τῆς ὁδοῦ, σκιᾶς τυγχάνει, ἵνα ἐκ ταύτης τῆς σκιᾶς συμβόλου λόγον ἐχούσης ἀναχθῇ ἀπὸ τῶν νόμων τῶν δοθέντων καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἐπὶ τὴν οὐράνιον πολιτείαν. ἐκδεκτέον καὶ ἑτέρως· ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ τῇ προσκαίρῳ μικροῦ καὶ μεγάλου καὶ δούλου διαφορὰ καθέστηκεν, τῆς πλεονεξίας αὐτὴν εἰσαγαγούσης τὴν ποικιλίαν. ἐν δὲ τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι "οὐκ ἔνι ἄρσεν" φησὶν ὁ Παῦλος "καὶ θῆλυ, οὐκ ἔνι δοῦλος οὐδὲ ἐλεύθερος". ὁμοίως δ' ἂν εἴποι, ὡς οὐδὲ πλούσιος ἢ πένης, ἀλλ' ἡ τῶν ἔργων ἐπίδειξις, καθ' ἣν συμβήσεται τὸν ἐν τῶι ζῆν τούτωι μικρὸν ἢ δοῦλον ἐκεῖ μέγαν καὶ ἐλεύθερον νομίζεσθαι. "εἶδον" γάρ φησιν "δούλους ἐφ' ἵππους καί" ῃαξατ πᾶν τὸ ὑπολαμβανόμενον μέγα ἐκεῖ ἐν κολάσει εὑρίσκεται. τάχα δὲ καὶ οὕτω δυνατόν, ὅτι ἀπεντεῦθεν ὁ μέγας παρ' ἕκαστον ὢν μέγας κατὰ ἀρετὴν κἀκεῖ οὕτω εὑρεθήσεται καὶ ὁ μικρὸς ὡσαύτως. κατὰ ταύτην τὴν διάνοιαν καὶ τὸ ἐν τῶι Ἐκκλησιαστῆι φερόμενον ἐξείλημπται οὕτως ἔχον· "ὅπου ἐὰν 80 πέσῃ τὸ ξύλον, ἐκεῖ μενεῖ", ξύλον λέγων τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὅστις εἰ ἔπεσεν ἐν κολάσει τουτέστιν εἰ τέλος ἔσχεν τούτου τοῦ ζῆν ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ὤν, οὕτως "ἔσται ἐκεῖ". εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐν ἀρετῇ, ὁμοίως· "πάντας" γὰρ "δεῖ παραστῆναι τῷ βήματι τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα κομίσηται ἕκαστος πρὸς ἃ διὰ τοῦ σώματος ἔπραξεν". καὶ ὁ θεράπων ὁ τῷ θεῷ δουλεύων νοημόνως ἐκεῖ ἐστιν σκιᾶς τυγχάνων καὶ ἀναπαύσεως, διαφυγὼν τὸν καύσωνα τοῦ βίου· "διεσώθη ἀπὸ καύματος υἱὸς νοήμων", οὐ καταφλεγεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ καύσωνος κατὰ τοὺς ἐν τῆι παραβολῇ μὴ εἰς βάθος τὸν σπόρον ἀποδεξαμένους καὶ ὑποπεσόντας τῷ φλογμῷ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. αὕτη ἡ ἐπαγγελία τῷ ∆αυὶδ λέγεται ἐν Ψαλμοῖς· "ἡμέρας ὁ ἥλιος οὐ συνκαύσει σε καὶ ἡ σελήνη τὴν νύκτα", ὅπερ κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν οὐκ εὑρίσκομεν. α̣ὐτὸς γὰρ δίκαιος ὢν κατεπονεῖτο ὑπὸ καύσωνος τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ, ἀκαταπόνητος ὢν ὑπὸ καύσωνος ἁμαρτίας. κοινὸν γὰρ τὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν προσπιπτόντων ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι δικαίου καὶ ἀδίκου, ἴδιον δὲ τοῦ σπουδαίου τὸ διαφεύγειν τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς κακίας 81 καύσωνα. "ἱνατί γὰρ δέδοται τοῖς ἐν πικρίᾳ φῶς, ζωὴ δὲ ταῖς ἐν ὀδύναις ψυχαῖς; οἳ ὁμείρονται τοῦ θανάτου καὶ οὐκ ἐπιτυγχάνουσιν ἀνορύσσοντες ὥσπερ θησαυρούς, περιχαρεῖς δὲ ἐγένοντο ἐὰν κατατύχωσιν." τὸ κεκρυμμένον καὶ οὐ πᾶσι φανερὸν κρίμα τῆς προνοίας ἐξετάζει ὁ ἅγιος παιδεύσεως