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our virtue, since indeed it blossoms by divine grace, and you will see all the things that have been said demonstrated in the deeds themselves; and not only will you praise what has happened, but if you are willing to rouse yourself even a little, you will quickly come to the same zeal as he, having your son as a teacher of virtue.

47.349 TO A BELIEVING FATHER, THIRD DISCOURSE

1. Come now, therefore, let us also teach the believing father, that against those who lead

his son toward what seems good to God, one ought not to fight. And yet, this discourse of ours now runs the risk of becoming superfluous, and of turning out the opposite of what I was saying before. For then I was saying that the law does not compel me to strip for this contest against the Greek, but having commanded only to judge those within, the Apostle Paul, has left us free from the battle against those outside. But now, as it seems, we are not even accountable for these struggles; for if even before this it seemed shameful to dispute with a Christian about these things, much more so now. For how will the believer not sink down in shame, needing exhortation about these things, about which the unbeliever would have nothing to say against us? What then? Shall we be silent on account of this, and say nothing? By no means. For if there were someone who would guarantee the future, and make it clear to us, that no one henceforth will dare such things, we too ought to keep quiet, and grant to past events the favor of being forgotten; but since we have no trustworthy guarantor of these things, the exhortation of words is now necessary. For if it finds those suffering from this disease, it will do its work; but if no one should fall into the sickness, what we pray for has happened. For indeed for doctors, after preparing the medicines for the sick, it is a matter of prayer that the one who is ill should not come to have need of them; and so we too pray that none of our brothers should have need of this exhortation; but if it should happen, which may it not, the second voyage, according to the proverb, will not escape them. Let the believer, therefore, be imagined by us now as such a one as the unbeliever, and let him resemble him in all things, except in his opinion concerning the Divine, and let him lament in like manner and prostrate himself at the feet of all, and let him put forward his gray hair, and his old age, and his desolation, and let him say all those things, and stir the judges to as much anger as he wishes; or rather, for him our trial is no longer before men; for he has heard how many things the men filled with the divine Spirit have philosophized among us concerning the dreadful and fearful tribunal after our departure from here. And it is necessary before all other things to remind him of that day, and of the fire flowing like a river, of the never-extinguished flame, of the disappearing ray of light, of the hidden moon, of the falling stars, of the heavens being rolled up, of the powers being shaken, of the earth being shaken from all sides and boiling up, of the fearful and successive sound of the trumpets, of the angels running through the inhabited world, of the thousands standing by, of the myriads ministering, of the armies arriving with the judge himself, of the sign shin47.350 ing before him, of the throne being set, of the books being opened, of the unapproachable glory, of the fearful and dreadful voice of the one judging, sending some into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels, and shutting others out of the doors, after the great labor of virginity, and commanding some of his ministers to bind the tares and cast them into the furnace, and others to bind certain others by the feet, and to tie up their hands, and to lead them away into the outer darkness, and to deliver them to the incurable gnashing of teeth; and one for licentious eyes only, another for untimely laughter, and another because his neighbor

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ἡμῖν ἀρετὴ, ἅτε δὴ θείᾳ βλαστάνουσα χάριτι, καὶ ὄψει πάντα τὰ εἰρημένα ἐπὶ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῶν δεικνύμενα· καὶ οὐ μόνον ἐπαινέσεις τὰ γεγενημένα, ἀλλὰ κἂν μικρὸν διαναστῆναι θελήσῃς, ταχέως καὶ πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν ἥξεις ζῆλον ἐκείνῳ, διδάσκαλον ἔχων τῆς ἀρετῆς τὸν υἱόν.

47.349 ΠΡΟΣ ΠΙΣΤΟΝ ΠΑΤΕΡΑ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΤΡΙΤΟΣ

αʹ. φέρε δὴ λοιπὸν καὶ τὸν πιστὸν πατέρα διδάξωμεν, ὅτι τοῖς ἐνάγουσιν

αὐτοῦ τὸν υἱὸν πρὸς τὸ τῷ Θεῷ δοκοῦν πολεμεῖν οὐ χρή. Καίτοι γε κινδυνεύει λοιπὸν καὶ οὗτος ἡμῖν ἐκ περιουσίας ὁ λόγος γίνεσθαι, καὶ τοὐναντίον ἐκβαίνειν, ὅπερ ἔμπροσθεν ἔλεγον. Τότε μὲν γὰρ ἔφην ὅτι με τοῦ ἀγῶνος τούτου ὁ νόμος οὐκ ἀναγκάζει πρὸς τὸν Ἕλληνα ἀποδύσασθαι, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἔσω κρίνειν μόνον κελεύσας ὁ ἀπόστολος Παῦλος, τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἔξωθεν μάχης ἀφῆκεν ἐλευθέρους ἡμᾶς. Νυνὶ δὲ, ὡς ἔοικεν, οὐδὲ τούτων ἐσμὲν ὑπεύθυνοι τῶν παλαισμάτων· εἰ γὰρ καὶ πρὸ τούτου πρὸς τὸν Χριστιανὸν ὑπὲρ τούτων διαλέγεσθαι αἰσχρὸν εἶναι ἐδόκει, πολλῷ μᾶλλον νῦν. Πῶς γὰρ οὐ καταδύσεται ὁ πιστὸς ὑπὲρ τούτων δεόμενος παραινέσεως, ὑπὲρ ὧν οὐδὲν ἂν ἡμῖν ἀντειπεῖν ὁ ἄπιστος ἔχοι; Τί οὖν; σιγήσομεν διὰ τοῦτο, καὶ οὐδὲν ἐροῦμεν; Οὐδαμῶς. Εἰ γὰρ ἦν τις ὁ τὸ μέλλον ἐγγυησόμενος, καὶ καταστήσων δῆλον ἡμῖν, ὡς οὐδεὶς ἔσται λοιπὸν ὁ τὰ τοιαῦτα τολμήσων, καὶ ἡμᾶς ἔδει τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν, καὶ τοῖς παρελθοῦσι χαρίσασθαι τὸ λαθεῖν· ἐπεὶ δ' οὐδένα τούτων ἀξιόπιστον ἔχομεν ἐγγυητὴν, ἀναγκαία λοιπὸν ἡ τῶν λόγων παραίνεσις. Ἂν μὲν γὰρ εὕρῃ τοὺς ταύτην νοσοῦντας τὴν νόσον, ἐργάσεται τὸ αὐτῆς· ἂν δὲ μηδεὶς τῇ ἀῤῥωστίᾳ περιπέσῃ. ὅπερ εὐχόμεθα γέγονε. Καὶ γὰρ τοῖς ἰατροῖς μετὰ τὸ παρασκευάσαι τοῖς ἀῤῥωστοῦσι τὰ φάρμακα, εὐχῆς ἔργον ἐστὶ, μηδὲ εἰς χρείαν αὐτῶν καταστῆναι τὸν κάμνοντα· καὶ ἡμεῖς τοίνυν εὐχόμεθα μὲν μηδενὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν τῶν ἡμετέρων χρείαν ταύτης γενέσθαι τῆς παραινέσεως· εἰ δ' ἄρα γένοιτο, ὃ μὴ γένοιτο, ὁ δεύτερος, κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν, αὐτοὺς οὐ διαφεύξεται πλοῦς. ∆ιαπλαττέσθω τοίνυν καὶ ὁ πιστὸς ἡμῖν ἤδη τοιοῦτος, οἷος ὁ ἄπιστος, καὶ πάντα ἐκείνῳ προσεοικέτω, πλὴν τῆς περὶ τὸ Θεῖον δόξης, καὶ θρηνείτω ὅμοια καὶ προκυλινδείσθω τῶν ποδῶν τῶν ἁπάντων, καὶ τὴν πολιὰν προβαλλέσθω, καὶ τὸ γῆρας, καὶ τὴν ἐρημίαν, καὶ πάντα ἐκεῖνα λεγέτω, καὶ κινείτω πρὸς ὅσον βούλεται ὀργῆς τοὺς δικάζοντας· μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοῦτον οὐκέτι ἡμῖν ἐπ' ἀνθρώπων ἐστὶν ἡ δίκη· ἤκουσε γὰρ ὅσα ἐφιλοσόφησαν παρ' ἡμῖν οἱ τοῦ θείου πληρωθέντες Πνεύματος ἄνθρωποι περὶ τοῦ φρικτοῦ καὶ φοβεροῦ δικαστηρίου, τοῦ μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἀποδημίαν. Καὶ δεῖ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἐκείνης αὐτὸν ἀναμνῆσαι τῆς ἡμέρας, καὶ τοῦ ποταμηδὸν ῥέοντος πυρὸς, τῆς οὐδέποτε σβεννυμένης φλογὸς, τῆς ἀφανιζομένης ἀκτῖνος, τῆς κρυπτομένης σελήνης, τῶν πιπτόντων ἄστρων, τῶν ἑλισσομένων οὐρανῶν, τῶν κλονουμένων δυνάμεων, τῆς τινασσομένης πανταχόθεν καὶ ἀναβρασσομένης γῆς, τῆς φοβερᾶς καὶ ἐπαλλήλου τῶν σαλπίγγων ἠχῆς, τῶν διατρεχόντων τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀγγέλων, τῶν παρεστηκυιῶν χιλιάδων, τῶν λειτουργουσῶν μυριάδων, τῶν μετ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ κριτοῦ παραγινομένων τῶν στρατοπέδων, τοῦ ἔμπροσθεν λάμ47.350 ποντος σημείου, τοῦ τιθεμένου θρόνου, τῶν ἀνοιγομένων βίβλων, τῆς ἀπροσίτου δόξης, τῆς φοβερᾶς καὶ φρικτῆς τοῦ δικάζοντος φωνῆς, τοὺς μὲν εἰς τὸ πῦρ πέμποντος τὸ ἡτοιμασμένον τῷ διαβόλῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ, τοὺς δὲ τῶν θυρῶν ἀποκλείοντος, μετὰ τὸν πολὺν τῆς παρθενίας πόνον, καὶ τῶν διακόνων αὐτοῦ τοῖς μὲν ἐπιτάττοντος τὰ ζιζάνια δῆσαι καὶ εἰς τὴν κάμινον ἐμβαλεῖν, τοῖς δὲ ἄλλους τινὰς συμποδίσαι, καὶ τὼ χεῖρε στραγγαλῶσαι, καὶ ἀπαγαγεῖν εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον, καὶ τῷ ἀνηκέστῳ παραδοῦναι τῶν ὀδόντων βρυγμῷ· καὶ τὸν μὲν ὑπὲρ ἀκολάστων ὀφθαλμῶν μόνον, τὸν δὲ ὑπὲρ ἀκαίρου γέλωτος, τὸν δὲ ὅτι τὸν πλησίον