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to those on the right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” If someone understands this same thing for “the morning help,” he would not miss what is fitting. For the custom of scripture calls the morning “dawn.” And the dawn is a time on the border of night and day, during which the one disappears and the other begins. And since wickedness is understood enigmatically through darkness in many places of scripture, when the dawning of the life of virtue comes to us from divine help, then we will attain victory, having put off the works of darkness and walking becomingly as in the day, as the apostle says. Close to what has been examined is also the reasoning of the eighth. For all care for the virtuous life looks toward the age to come, whose beginning is called the eighth, succeeding the sensible time which is recycled in weeks. Therefore the inscription "for the eighth" advises not to look to the present time, but to look to the eighth. For when this flowing and transient time ceases, in which one thing comes to be and another is dissolved, and the 5.84 need for becoming passes away, and that which is dissolved no longer is, with the hoped-for resurrection re-elementing nature into some other state of life, and the transient nature of time ceases, with the activity of generation and corruption no longer existing, the week that measures out time will certainly also stop, and that Eighth will succeed, which is the age to come, having become wholly one day, as one of the prophets says, naming the hoped-for life a great day. Since not the sensible sun illumines that day, but the true light, the sun of righteousness, who is named “sunrise” by the prophecy because he is never hidden by settings. And this same thing we understood also in the inscriptions “For the winepresses.” For the winepress is a workshop for wine, in which the wine is made when the grapes are crushed together. But if the wine flows from rotten or unripe grapes, it immediately becomes sour and undrinkable, having changed into some foul-smelling or even vinegary quality, altering through some other corruption into the generation of worms. But if the grape cluster put into the winepresses is noble and ripe, sweet and fragrant wine will flow from the grapes, improving over a long time in beauty and fragrance. What then does the enigma want, to care for the grape cluster as much as possible? so that the storehouse of the human mind might be enriched for us; and the storehouse is hope, in which all our preparation for life is contained. Thus the nature of the grapes would become manifest to us, if first appeared the branches and the vine that contains 5.85 both the grapes and the branches. But this will become clear from the words of the Lord who said, "I am the vine, you are the branches;" for if we are truly in him, rooted, and bearing fruit, and growing, as the apostle says, we will understand through what has been said that having been created in him and not existing without him, the cluster from our works, worthy of the sap that nourishes us, is required from us by him, being neither unripe and astringent through anger nor being destroyed and dissolved in decay through some pleasure. For in the winepress of each soul (and the winepress is the conscience), the cluster from works will store up the wine for us for the life to come. And it is altogether necessary for each to be filled with his own labors, of whatever sort they may happen to be, so that blessed indeed are those farmers whose wine gladdens the heart when it is enjoyed. But on the contrary, pitiable and worthy of lamentations are those whose wine becomes the venom of serpents, according to the voice of Moses, having changed into a poisonous quality, producing destruction from the vine of Sodom. If therefore you look toward the eighth, remember, it says, the winepresses, so that for you, through good works, the winepresses might overflow with fragrant wine, according to the proverbial saying.
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τοὺς ἐκ δεξιῶν ∆εῦτε, οἱ εὐλογη μένοι τοῦ πατρός μου, κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. Τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἑωθινῆς ἀντιλήψεώς τις νοήσας οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι τοῦ δέοντος. ὄρθρον γὰρ τὴν ἑωθινὴν ἡ τῆς γραφῆς ὀνομάζει συνήθεια. ὁ δὲ ὄρθρος χρόνος ἐστὶν νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας μεθόριος, καθ' ὃν ἡ μὲν ἀφανίζεται, ἡ δὲ ἄρχεται. τῆς δὲ κακίας πολλαχοῦ τῆς γραφῆς διὰ τοῦ σκότους ἐν αἰνίγματι νοουμένης, ὅταν γένηται ἡμῖν ἐκ θείας ἀντιλήψεως ἡ τοῦ κατ' ἀρετὴν βίου ἀνατολή, τότε πρὸς τὴν νίκην φθάσομεν ἀποθέμενοι τὰ ἔργα τοῦ σκότους καὶ ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εὐσχημόνως περιπατοῦντες, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος. Ἐγγὺς τῶν ἐξητασμένων καὶ ὁ τῆς ὀγδόης λόγος ἐστί. πᾶσα γὰρ ἐπιμέλεια τῆς ἐναρέτου ζωῆς πρὸς τὸν ἐφεξῆς αἰῶνα βλέπει, οὗ ἡ ἀρχὴ ὀγδόη λέγεται τὸν αἰσθητὸν διαδεξαμένη χρόνον τὸν ἐν ἑβδομάσιν ἀνακυκλούμενον. συμβουλεύει τοίνυν ἡ ὑπὲρ τῆς ὀγδόης ἐπιγραφὴ μὴ πρὸς τὸν παρόντα βλέπειν χρόνον, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ὀγδόην ὁρᾶν. ὅταν γὰρ ὁ ῥοώδης οὗτος καὶ παροδικὸς παύσηται χρόνος, ἐν ᾧ τὸ μὲν γίνεται, τὸ δὲ λύεται, καὶ παρέλθῃ μὲν ἡ τοῦ 5.84 γενέσθαι χρεία, μηκέτι δὲ τὸ λυόμενον ᾖ, τῆς ἐλπιζομένης ἀναστάσεως εἰς ἄλλην τινὰ ζωῆς κατάστασιν μεταστοιχειού σης τὴν φύσιν, καὶ ἡ παροδικὴ τοῦ χρόνου παύσηται φύσις, τῆς κατὰ γένεσιν καὶ φθορὰν ἐνεργείας μηκέτι οὔσης, στή σεται πάντως καὶ ἡ ἑβδομὰς ἡ ἐκμετροῦσα τὸν χρόνον, καὶ διαδέξεται ἡ Ὀγδόη ἐκείνη, ἥτις ἐστὶν ὁ ἐφεξῆς αἰὼν ὅλος μία ἡμέρα γενόμενος, καθώς φησί τις τῶν προφητῶν μεγάλην ἡμέραν τὴν ἐλπιζομένην ὀνομάσας ζωήν. ἐπειδὴ οὐχ ὁ αἰσθητὸς ἥλιος φωτίζει τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀληθινὸν φῶς, ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιος, ὃς ἀνατολὴ ὑπὸ τῆς προφητείας κατονομάζεται διὰ τὸ μηδέποτε δυσμαῖς συγκαλύπτεσθαι. Τὸ δὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ ἐν ταῖς Ὑπὲρ τῶν ληνῶν ἐπιγραφαῖς ἐνοήσαμεν. ἡ γὰρ ληνὸς οἴνου ἐστὶν ἐργαστήριον, ἐν ᾗ τῶν βοτρύων συνθλιβομένων ὁ οἶνος γίνεται. ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν ἐκ σεσηπότων ἢ ὀμφακιζόντων τῶν βοτρύων ἀπορρυῇ ὁ οἶνος, τροπίας εὐθὺς καὶ ἄποτος γίνεται, εἰς δυσωδίαν τινὰ ἢ καὶ εἰς ὀξώδη μεταβαλὼν ποιότητα διά τινος ἑτέρας διαφθορᾶς εἰς σκωλήκων γένεσιν ἀλλοιούμενος. εἰ δὲ εὐγενής τε καὶ ὡραῖος ταῖς ληνοῖς ἐντεθείη ὁ βότρυς, ἡδύς τε καὶ ἀνθοσμίας ὁ οἶνος τῶν βοτρύων ἀπορρυήσεται τῷ μακρῷ χρόνῳ συνεπιδιδοὺς εἰς κάλλος καὶ εὔπνοιαν. τί οὖν τὸ αἴνιγμα βούλεται φροντίζειν τοῦ βότρυος ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα; ὅπως ἂν ἡμῖν πλουτοίη τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου νοῦ ἡ ἀποθήκη· ἐλπὶς δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἀποθήκη ἐν ᾗ πᾶσα ἡμῖν ἡ τοῦ βίου παρασκευὴ περιέχεται. οὕτω δ' ἂν γένοιτο ἡμῖν πρόδηλος τῶν βοτρύων ἡ φύσις, εἰ φανείη πρῶτον τὰ κλήματα καὶ ἡ περιεκτικὴ 5.85 τῶν τε βοτρύων καὶ κλημάτων ἄμπελος. ἀλλὰ τοῦτο φανερὸν ἐκ τῶν τοῦ κυρίου λόγων γενήσεται τοῦ εἰπόντος Ἐγὼ ἡ ἄμπελος, ὑμεῖς τὰ κλήματα· εἰ γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἐν αὐτῷ ἐσμεν, ἐρριζωμένοι, καρποφοροῦντές τε καὶ αὐξανόμενοι, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, νοήσομεν διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ κτισθέντες καὶ ἄνευ αὐτοῦ μὴ ὄντες ἄξιον τῆς ὑποτρε φούσης ἡμᾶς ἰκμάδος τὸν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων βότρυν παρ' αὐτοῦ ἀπαιτούμεθα μήτε δι' ὀργῆς ὀμφακίζοντά τε καὶ καταστύ φοντα μήτε δι' ἡδονῆς τινος ἐν σηπεδόνι φθειρόμενόν τε καὶ λυόμενον. ἐν γὰρ τῇ ληνῷ τῆς ἑκάστου ψυχῆς (ληνὸς δέ ἐστιν ἡ συνείδησις) ὁ ἐκ τῶν ἔργων βότρυς τὸν οἶνον ἡμῖν εἰς τὸν ἐφεξῆς ἀποθήσεται βίον. καὶ πᾶσα ἀνάγκη τῶν ἰδίων ἕκαστον ἐμφορεῖσθαι πόνων, οἷοί περ ἂν τύχωσιν ὄντες, ὡς μακάριοί γε τῶν γεωργῶν ἐκεῖνοι, ὧν ὁ οἶνος εὐφραίνει καρδίαν ἐν ἀπολαύσει γινόμενος. ἐλεεινοὶ δὲ ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου καὶ θρήνων ἄξιοι, ὧν θυμὸς δρακόντων ὁ οἶνος γίνεται κατὰ τὴν Μωυσέως φωνὴν εἰς δηλητηριώδη μεταβαλὼν ποιότητα, ἐκ τῆς Σοδομιτικῆς κληματίδος καρπογονῶν τὴν ἀπώλειαν. εἰ τοίνυν περὶ τὴν ὀγδόην βλέπεις, μέμνησο, φησίν, τῶν ληνῶν, ὡς ἄν σοι διὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων τοῦ ἀνθοσμίου οἴνου κατὰ τὸν παροιμιώδη λόγον αἱ ληνοὶ ὑπερβλύζωσιν.