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127. ..». IF YOU ARE CRUCIFIED WITH HIM AS A THIEF, ACKNOWLEDGE GOD AS A GRATEFUL ONE» From the same discourse, on the text: «If you are crucified with him as a thief, as a grateful one

acknowledge God.» A grateful thief crucified with Christ is every man who for

sins suffers evil as one responsible, 14Ε_102 suffering along with and bearing with thanksgiving the Logos who suffers evil for his sake without being responsible, and acknowledging the Logos of just judgment who is present according to providence, and confessing the reason for which he suffers evil, and asking that just as the Logos, being without responsibility, partook of his suffering, so He might, on His own account, impart the logos of His own well-being to him who is unworthy, and that He might reckon the mortification from circumstance as his voluntary virtue on account of his gratitude, when the wise veils of the logos of providence, having reached their end, the unapproachable light of His 1373 kingdom might appear. Thus the mortification of the members of the body from circumstance, for him who suffers on account of sins, is transformed through grateful thanksgiving into a voluntary virtue, by which, being released from the many debts of sin, he will justly enter with the Logos into the land of knowledge, I mean paradise, wherein he will come to know the cause of the condemnation and suffering in which we are now imprisoned.

But an ungrateful thief is one who suffers evil for his sins as one responsible, and does not, through a contentious disposition, acknowledge the Logos of justice who suffers with him out of love for mankind without being responsible, but blasphemously rejects the logos of judgment justly decreed for him according to providence, who, because he did not acknowledge the Logos who was dishonorably condemned with him according to His will and ask for grace for the things wherein he transgressed, is left a stranger to the kingdom, having received no promise from the Logos that he would ever attain it.

128. ANOTHER [INTERPRETATION] ON THE SAME THEOREM

Another [interpretation] on the same theorem. And again, a grateful thief is one who, even at the very end of the present

life, having come to an awareness 14Ε_104 of the things he has transgressed, and acknowledging with understanding the logos of divine judgment justly appointed and being accomplished for him here, and sincerely asking pardon from the depths of his soul for the sins he has committed. But an ungrateful thief is one who, being at the very end of his present life, and, because of his love for life, finds fault with the law and boundary for the division of the soul from the body, wisely established by the just decree of God, as though it were not well-given.

129. ANOTHER [INTERPRETATION] ON THE SAME THEOREM

Another [interpretation] on the same theorem. And again, since each of us is twofold in nature, composed of soul and

body, a thief is one who, in each of the [parts] of which he is composed according to the law of the other nature, is mystically crucified with the Logos for the sake of virtue, and [regards] the law of the flesh as an ungrateful thief who opposes the logos of virtue, but has the law of the spirit as a grateful thief, and accepts the Savior Logos through the ways of the practical life, even if they are laborious, to whom

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ΡΚΖ (127). ..». ΕΑΝ ΣΥΣΤΑΥΡΩΘΗΣ ΩΣ ΛΗΣΤΗΣ, ΩΣ ΕΥΓΝΩΜΩΝ ΤΟΝ ΘΕΟΝ ΓΝΩΡΙΣΟΝ» Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό· «Ἐάν συσταυρωθῇς ὡς ληστής, ὡς εὐγνώμων

τόν Θεόν γνώρισον». Ληστής ἐστιν εὐγνώμων συσταυρούμενος τῷ Χριστῷ πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ὑπέρ

ἁμαρτιῶν πάσχων κακῶς ὡς ὑπεύθυνος, τῷ 14Ε_102 ἀνευθύνως δι᾿ αὐτόν κακοπαθοῦντι Λόγῳ συγκακοπαθῶν καί φέρων μετ᾿ εὐχαριστίας, καί τόν κατά πρόνοιαν τῆς δικαίας κρίσεως Λόγον συνόντα γνωρίζον, καί ὁμολογῶν τήν ὑπέρ ὧν πάσχει κακῶς αἰτίαν, καί αἰτιῶν ὥσπερ αὐτῷ τοῦ πάθους ἐκοινώνησεν ἀνεύθυνος ὤν ὁ λόγος, οὕτω δι᾿ ἑαυτόν τόν λόγον τῆς οἰκείας εὐπαθείας ἀναξίῳ τυγχάνοντι μεταδοῦναι, καί τήν ἐκ περιστάσεως νέκρωσιν εἰς ἑκούσιον αὐτοῦ ἀρετήν διά τήν εὐγνωμοσύνην λογίσασθαι, ἡνίκα τῆς προνοίας τά σοφά τοῦ λόγου προκαλύμματα πέρας λαβόντα τῆς αὐτοῦ 1373 βασιλείας τό φῶς φανῇ τό ἀπρόσιτον. Οὕτω περιίσταται αὐτῷ πάσχοντι δι᾿ ἁμαρτίας ἡ ἐκ περιστάσεως τῶν μελῶν τοῦ σώματος νέκρωσις, δι᾿ εὐγνώμονος εὐχαριστίας εἰς αὐθαίρετον ἀρετήν μεταπίπτουσα, καθ᾿ ἥν τῶν καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν πολλῶν ἀπολυόμενος ὀφλημάτων μετά τοῦ Λόγου δικαίως εἴσεισιν εἰς τήν χώραν τῆς γνώσεως, φημί δέ τόν παράδεισον, ἐν ᾗ γενόμενος γνώσεται τήν αἰτίαν τῆς ἐν ᾗ καθείργμεθα νῦν καταδίκης και κακοπαθείας.

Ληστής δέ ἀγνώμων ἐστίν ὁ δι᾿ ἁμαρτίας πάσχων κακῶς ὡς ὑπεύθυνος, καί μή γνωρίζων διά φιλαπεχθήμονα γνώμην τόν ἀνευθύνως ὑπέρ φιλανθρωπίας αὐτῷ συμπάσχοντα τῆς δικαιοσύνης Λόγον, ἀλλά βλασφήμως ἀποπεμπόμενος τόν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ κατά πρόνοιαν δικαίως ὁρισθέντα τῆς κρίσεως λόγον, ὅς ἐπειδή μή ἐγνώρισε τόν ἀτίμως αὐτῷ κατά βούλησιν συγκαταδικασθέντα Λόγον καί ᾐτήσατο χάριν ὧν ἐπλημμέλησεν, ἀφίεται τῆς βασιλείας ἀλλότριος, οὐδεμίαν τοῦ ποτε ταύτης τεύξεσθαι παρά τοῦ Λόγου λαβών ἐπάγγελον.

ΡΚΗ (128). ΑΛΛΟΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΑΥΤΟ ΘΕΩΡΗΜΑ

Ἄλλος εἰς τό αὐτό θεώρημα. Καί πάλιν λῃστής ἐστιν εὐγνώμων ὁ κἄν ἐπ᾿ αὐτό τό πέρας τῆς παρούσης

αὐτῷ γενόμενος ζωῆς ἐλθών εἰς συναίσθησιν 14Ε_104 τῶν πλημμεληθέντων αὐτῷ, καί γνωρίζων μετά συνέσεως τόν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ δικαίως ὡρισμένον ἐνταῦθα τῆς θείας κρίσεως συντελούμενον αὐτῷ λόγον, καί αἰτῶν συγγνώμην εἰλικρινῶς ἐκ βάθους ψυχῆς ὧν ἥμαρτεν. Ἀγνώμων δέ λῃστής ἐστιν ὁ κατ᾿ αὐτό τό πέρας τῆς παρούσης αὐτῷ ζωῆς γενόμενος καί τόν κατά ψῆφον δικαίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ τεθέντα σοφῶς τοῦ μερισμοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπό τοῦ σώματος νόμον τε καί ὅρον ὡς μή καλῶς δοθέντα διά φιλοζωΐαν μεμφόμενος.

ΡΚΘ (129). ΑΛΛΟΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΑΥΤΟ ΘΕΩΡΗΜΑ

Ἄλλο εἰς τό αὐτό θεώρημα. Καί πάλιν ἐπειδήπερ ἕκαστος ἡμῶν διπλοῦς ἐστι τήν φύσιν, ἐκ ψυχῆς καί

σώματος συνεστώς, λῃστής ἐστιν ὁ καθ᾿ ἑκάτερον τῶν ἐξ ὧν συνέστηκε κατά τήν θατέρου φύσιν νόμον ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς τῷ λόγῳ μυστικῶς συσταυρούμενος, καί τόν μέν τῆς σαρκός νόμον, ὥσπερ ἀγνώμονα λῃστήν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀντιπίπτοντα, τόν δέ τοῦ πνεύματος νόμον ὥσπερ λῃστήν ἔχων εὐγνώμονα, καί τόν Σωτῆρα Λόγον διά τῶν κατά τήν πρακτικήν τρόπων, κἄν ἐπίπονοι ὦσιν, ἀποδεχόμενον, ᾧ