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judging the matter buried with him in secret to be more precious, if he is dragged headlong into the dark fire; with all those who have experienced this life bringing forth against him what is harsh and savage, and saying: Remember that you received your good things in your life; you shut up mercy in the strongholds of wealth, and you left compassion above the earth; you did not bring loving-kindness to the life here; you do not have what you did not have; you do not find what you did not lay aside; you do not gather what you did not scatter; you will not reap what you did not sow the seeds of; the harvest is worthy of your sowing; you sowed bitterness, reap the sheaves; you honored the merciless, have what you loved; you did not look with sympathy; you will not be seen with pity. You overlooked the afflicted, you will be overlooked 44.1264 as you perish. You fled mercy, mercy will flee you; you loathed the poor man, he who became poor for your sake will loathe you. If these and such things were said, where is the gold? Where are the splendid vessels? Where is the security imposed on the treasures by the seals? Where are the dogs assigned to the nightly guards, and the preparation of weapons against conspirators? The notation written down in the books? What are these things against the weeping and the gnashing of teeth? Who will illumine the darkness? Who will quench the flame? Who will turn away the undying worm? Therefore let us understand, brethren, the voice of the Lord, teaching so many things in brief concerning the things to come; and let us become merciful, that we may for this reason become blessed, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON 6.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. What those who stoop from some high promontory into a boundless sea are likely to suffer, this my mind has suffered, looking from the lofty voice of the Lord, as from some mountain peak, into the impassable depth of its thoughts. For just as in many coastal places one can see a mountain half-cut, smoothed straight down from the peak to the depth on the seaward side, of which at the upper limit a certain projecting peak inclines toward the deep; what one is likely to suffer, then, from such a vantage point, peeking from a great height at the sea in the depth below; so my soul is now dizzy, suspended in this great voice of the Lord: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. God is the spectacle set before those who have been purified in heart. No one has ever seen God, as the great John says; and Paul, lofty in thought, also attests, saying: that Whom no one among men has seen, nor can see. This is the smooth and precipitous rock, which shows no foothold for thoughts upon itself, which Moses also declared to be inaccessible by his own doctrines, so that our mind can nowhere approach it, every grasp having been scraped away by the declaration. For there is no one, he says, who will see the Lord, and live. And yet, eternal life is to see God. But this the pillars of the faith, John and Paul and Moses, determine to be impossible. Do you see the dizziness with which the soul is dragged toward the depth of the things contemplated in the saying? If God is life, he who has not seen him does not see life; that it is not possible to see God, the God-bearing prophets and apostles testify. In what does the hope for men consist? But the Lord supports falling hope. 44.1265 Just as he did for Peter, when he was in danger of sinking, setting him again on the firm and resistant water. If, then, the hand of the Word should come also to us, and should establish us, who are unsteady in the depth of contemplation, upon another meaning, we would be outside of fear, firmly grasping the Word that leads us by the hand. For blessed, he says, are the pur

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αὐτῷ συγκεχωσμένην ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ τὴν ὕλην προτιμότερον κρίνας, ἐὰν ἐπὶ τὸ σκοτεινὸν πῦρ ἐπὶ κεφαλὴν κατασύρηται· πάντων αὐτῷ τὸ ἀπεινὲς καὶ ἀνήμερον προφερόντων, τῶν κατὰ τὴν ζωὴν ταύ την πεπειραμένων, καὶ λεγόντων· Μνήσθητι ὅτι ἀπέλαβες ἀγαθά σου ἐν τῇ ζωῇ σου· συναπέκλεισας ἐν τοῖς ὀχυρώμασι τοῦ πλούτου τὸν ἔλεον, καὶ κατ έλιπες ὑπὲρ γῆς τὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν· οὐκ ἐκομίσω πρὸς τὸν τῇδε βίον τὴν φιλανθρωπίαν· οὐκ ἔχεις ὃ μὴ ἔσχες· οὐχ εὑρίσκεις ὃ μὴ ἀπέθου· οὐ συνάγεις ὃ μὴ ἐσκόρπισας· οὐ θεριεῖς ὧν οὐ κατεβάλου τὰ σπέρματα· ἄξιόν σοι τῆς σπορᾶς τὸ θέρος· πικρίαν ἔσπειρας, δρέπου τὰ δράγματα· τὸ ἀνηλεὲς ἐτίμη σας, ἔχε ὅπερ ἠγάπησας· οὐκ εἶδες συμπαθῶς· οὐκ ὀφθήσῃ ἐλεεινῶς. Περιεῖδες θλιβόμενον, περιοφθήσῃ 44.1264 ἀπολλύμενος. Ἔφυγες τὸν ἔλεον, φεύξεταί σε ὁ ἔλεος· ἐβδελύξω τὸν πτωχὸν, βδελύξεταί σε ὁ διὰ σὲ πτω χεύσας. Εἰ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγοιτο, ποῦ τὸ χρυσίον; Ποῦ τὰ λαμπρὰ σκεύη; Ποῦ ἡ ἐπιβεβλη μένη τοῖς θησαυροῖς διὰ τῶν σφραγίδων ἀσφάλεια; Ποῦ οἱ ταῖς νυκτεριναῖς φυλακαῖς ἐπιτετευγμένοι κύνες, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιβουλεύοντας τῶν ὅπλων παρασκευή; Ἡ ἐν τοῖς βιβλίοις ἀναγεγραμμένη σημείωσις; Τί ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν κλαυθμὸν καὶ τὸν βρυγμὸν τῶν ὀδόντων; Τίς καταυγάσει τὸ σκότος; Τίς κατασβέσει τὴν φλόγα; Τίς ἀποστρέψει τὸν ἀτε λεύτητον σκώληκα; Οὐκοῦν νοήσωμεν, ἀδελφοὶ, τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου φωνὴν, ἐν ὀλίγῳ τοσαῦτα περὶ τῶν μελ λόντων παιδεύουσαν· καὶ γενώμεθα ἐλεήμονες, ἵνα γενώμεθα διὰ τοῦτο μακάριοι, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΛΟΓΟΣ ςʹ.

Μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν Θεὸν ὄψονται. Ὅπερ παθεῖν εἰκὸς τοὺς ἔκ τινος ὑψηλῆς ἀκρω ρείας εἰς ἀχανές τι κατακύπτοντας πέλαγος, τοῦτό μοι πέπονθεν ἡ διάνοια, ἐκ τῆς ὑψηλῆς τοῦ Κυρίου φωνῆς, οἷον ἀπό τινος κορυφῆς ὄρους, εἰς τὸ ἀδιεξί τητον τῶν νοημάτων βλέπουσα βάθος. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐν πολλοῖς τῶν παραθαλασσίων ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ὄρος ἡμί τομον, κατὰ τὸ παράλιον μέρος ἀπὸ κορυφῆς ἐπὶ τὸ βάθος δι' εὐθείας ἀπεξεσμένον, οὗ κατὰ τὸ ἄνω πέρας ἄκρα τις προβεβλημένη πρὸς τὸν βυθὸν ἐπι νένευκεν· ὅπερ οὖν παθεῖν εἰκὸς, τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς τοι αύτης σκοπιᾶς, ἐκ πολλοῦ τοῦ ὕψους ἐπὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ βάθει διακύπτοντα θάλατταν· οὕτως ἰλιγγιᾷ μου νῦν ψυχὴ, ἐν τῇ μεγάλῃ ταύτῃ τοῦ Κυρίου φωνῇ γενο μένη μετέωρος· Μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν Θεὸν ὄψονται. Θεὸς πρόκειται τοῖς τὴν καρδίαν ἐκκαθαρθεῖσι τὸ θέαμα. Θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακε πώποτε, καθώς φησιν Ἰωάννης ὁ μέγας· ἐπιψηφίζει δὲ καὶ Παῦλος ὁ ὑψηλὸς τὴν διάνοιαν, εἰπών· ὅτι Ὃν εἶδεν οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων, οὔτε ἰδεῖν δύναται. Αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ λεία καὶ ἀπότομος πέτρα, ἡ μηδεμίαν ἐφ' ἑαυτῆς τῶν νοημάτων βάσιν ὑποδεικνύουσα, ἣν καὶ ὁ Μωϋσῆς ὡσαύτως ἀπρόσιτον τοῖς καθ' ἑαυτὸν δόγμασιν ἀπεφήνατο, ὡς μηδαμοῦ δύνασθαι προσβῆ ναι ἡμῶν τὴν διάνοιαν, πάσης ἀντιλήψεως ἀπο ξυσθείσης διὰ τῆς ἀποφάσεως. Οὐκ ἔστι γὰρ, φησὶν, ὅστις ὄψεται Κύριον, καὶ ζήσεται. Ἀλλὰ μὴν αἰώνιος ζωὴ τὸ ἰδεῖν ἐστι τὸν Θεόν. Τοῦτο δὲ ἀ μήχανον οἱ στύλοι τῆς πίστεως, Ἰωάννης καὶ Παῦλος καὶ Μωσῆς διορίζονται. Ὁρᾷς τὸν ἴλιγνον, ᾧ ψυχὴ πρὸς τὸ βάθος τῶν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ θεωρουμένων συν έλκεται; Εἰ ζωὴ ὁ Θεὸς, ὁ μὴ ἰδὼν αὐτὸν, τὴν ζωὴν οὐ βλέπει· τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ἰδεῖν Θεὸν, οἱ θεοφόροι τῶν προφητῶν τε καὶ ἀποστόλων διαμαρτύρονται. Εἰς τί τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἡ ἐλπὶς περιΐσταται; Ἀλλ' ὑποστηρίζει καταπίπτουσαν τὴν ἐλπίδα ὁ Κύριος. 44.1265 Καθάπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ Πέτρου ἐποίησεν, κινδυνεύοντος βυθισθῆναι, πάλιν ἐπὶ στεῤῥοῦ καὶ ἀντιτύπου στή σας τοῦ ὕδατος. Εἰ τοίνυν ἔλθῃ καὶ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς ἡ τοῦ Λόγου χεὶρ, καὶ ἀστατοῦντας ἐν τῷ βυθῷ τῶν θεωρη μάτων, ἐπὶ θατέρου νοήματος καταστήσειεν, ἔξω τοῦ φόβου γινόμεθα ἰσχυρῶς τοῦ χειραγωγοῦντος ἡμᾶς Λόγου περιδραξάμενοι. Μακάριοι γὰρ, φησὶ, καθα