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to the service of a corruptible life nor deigning to become an instrument of mortal succession. For in this was broken the continuity of the sequence of corruption and dying, which had occurred from the first-formed man up until the life of the one practicing virginity; for it was not possible for death ever to be inactive, while human generation was being effected through marriage. But passing along with all the preceding generations and going through with those who were always coming into life, it found in virginity a limit to its own activity, which it is impossible to pass. For just as in the case of the Theotokos Mary, “death, which had reigned from Adam until” her, when it came even upon her, as if stumbling upon some rock, the fruit of virginity, was shattered against her, so in every soul that through virginity passes by the life in the flesh, the power of death is somehow shattered and destroyed, having nothing on which to fix its own sting. For fire, unless wood and straw and grass or some other thing consumed by fire is supplied to it, does not have the nature to continue by itself; so also the power of death will not be active, if marriage does not supply the material for it and prepare those who will die, like certain condemned persons.

14.2 But if you doubt, consider the names of the misfortunes, as many as are brought upon men by death, as has already been said before at the beginning of the discourse. From where do they have their beginning? Is it possible to lament widowhood or orphanhood or the misfortune concerning children, if marriage has not preceded? For the much-sought-after delights and joys and pleasures, and all things that are earnestly pursued concerning marriage, end in such pains. For just as the hilt of a sword is smooth and easy to touch and well-wrought and gleaming and fits the shape of the palm, but the rest is iron, an instrument of death, fearful to behold, but more fearful to experience, such a thing is marriage also, like a hilt adorned by some skillful chasing, offering the smooth and superficial part of pleasure to the touch of the sense, but when it is in the hands of the one who has touched it and has introduced the presence of pains inseparably with itself, it becomes a creator of grief and misfortunes for men.

14.3 This has shown pitiable spectacles full of tears; children orphaned at an untimely age and set forth as plunder for the powerful, often smiling at their misfortune because of their ignorance of evils. And what other origin of widowhood is there but marriage? Therefore, withdrawal from this has exemption from all these evil services at once, and it is not at all unlikely; for where the condemnation decreed from the beginning against those who have transgressed is dissolved, and the tribulations of mothers are no longer multiplied according to what is written, nor does sorrow precede human generation, the misfortune of life has certainly been taken away and the tear has been wiped from faces, as the prophet says; for conception is no longer in iniquities, nor is pregnancy in sins, nor from blood, nor from the will of man and the will of the flesh, but the birth is from God alone. And this happens when someone conceives in the vital part of the heart the incorruptibility of the spirit, and brings forth “wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.” For it is possible for everyone to become the mother of him who is these things, as the Lord says somewhere, that “He who does my will is my brother and sister and mother.” 14.4 What place, then, does death still have in the case of such pregnancies? Truly “it was swallowed up in

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φθαρτοῦ βίου ὑπηρεσίᾳ μηδὲ τῆς θνητῆς διαδοχῆς ὄργανον γενέσθαι καταδεξάμενον. Ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ διεκόπη τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς τοῦ φθείρεσθαι καὶ ἀποθνῄσκειν ἀκολουθίας, ὅπερ ἀπὸ τοῦ πρωτοπλάστου καὶ μέχρι τῆς τοῦ παρθενεύοντος ζωῆς διὰ μέσου γέγονεν· οὐ γὰρ ἦν δυνατὸν ἀργῆσαί ποτε τὸν θάνατον, ἐνεργου μένης διὰ τοῦ γάμου τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης γενέσεως. Ἀλλὰ πάσαις ταῖς προλαβούσαις γενεαῖς συμπαροδεύων καὶ τοῖς ἀεὶ παραγινομένοις εἰς τὸν βίον συνδιεξερχόμενος, ὅρον τῆς ἐνεργείας ἑαυτοῦ τὴν παρθενίαν εὗρεν, ὃν παρελθεῖν τῶν ἀμηχάνων ἐστίν· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς θεοτόκου Μαρίας «ὁ βασιλεύσας ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ μέχρις» ἐκείνης «θάνατος», ἐπειδὴ καὶ κατ' αὐτὴν ἐγένετο, καθάπερ τινὶ πέτρᾳ τῷ καρπῷ τῆς παρθενίας προσπταίσας περὶ αὐτὴν συνετρίβη, οὕτως ἐν πάσῃ ψυχῇ τῇ διὰ παρθενίας τὴν ἐν σαρκὶ παριούσῃ ζωὴν συντρίβεταί πως καὶ καταλύεται τοῦ θανάτου τὸ κράτος, οὐκ ἔχοντος τίσι τὸ ἑαυτοῦ κέντρον ἐναπερείσηται. Καὶ γὰρ τὸ πῦρ, εἰ μὴ ὑποβληθείη ξύλα καὶ καλάμη καὶ χόρτος αὐτῷ ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν ὑπὸ πυρὸς δαπανωμένων, οὐκ ἔχει φύσιν ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ μένειν· οὕτως οὐδὲ τοῦ θανάτου ἡ δύναμις ἐνεργήσει, μὴ τοῦ γάμου τὴν ὕλην ὑποτιθέντος αὐτῷ καὶ τοὺς τεθνηξομένους οἷον καταδίκους τινὰς ἑτοιμά ζοντος.

14.2 Εἰ δὲ ἀμφιβάλλεις, ἐπίσκεψαι τῶν συμφορῶν τὰ ὀνό ματα, ὅσα ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπάγεται, καθὼς ἤδη καὶ κατ' ἀρχὰς τοῦ λόγου προείρηται. Πόθεν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχει; Ἆρ' ἔστι χηρείαν ὀδύρεσθαι ἢ ὀρφανίαν ἢ τὴν ἐπὶ παισὶ συμφορὰν μὴ προλαβόντος τοῦ γάμου; Αἱ γὰρ περισπούδαστοι θυμηδίαι καὶ εὐφροσύναι καὶ ἡδοναί, καὶ πάντα ὅσα περὶ τὸν γάμον σπουδάζεται, ταῖς τοιαύταις ὀδύναις ἐναπολήγουσιν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τοῦ ξίφους ἡ μὲν λαβὴ λεία καὶ εὐαφὴς καὶ περιεξεσμένη καὶ στίλβουσα καὶ τῷ τύπῳ τῆς παλάμης ἐμφυομένη, τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν σίδηρός ἐστι, θανάτου ὄργανον, φοβερὸν μὲν ἰδεῖν, φοβερώτερον δὲ εἰς πεῖραν ἐλθεῖν, τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ὁ γάμος ἐστί, καθάπερ λαβήν τινα διά τινος εὐμηχάνου τορείας ὡραϊσμένην τὸ λεῖον καὶ ἐπιπόλαιον τῆς ἡδονῆς προτείνων τῇ ἐπαφῇ τῆς αἰσθήσεως, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὰν ἐν χερσὶ γένηται τοῦ ἁψαμένου καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀλγεινῶν παρουσίαν συνημμένως μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ συνεισήγαγε, πένθους καὶ συμφορῶν δημιουργὸς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις γινόμενος.

14.3 Οὗτος ἔδειξε τὰ ἐλεεινὰ καὶ πλήρη δακρύων θεάματα· παῖδας ἐν ἀωρίᾳ τῆς ἡλικίας ἠρημωμένους καὶ λάφυρον προκειμένους τοῖς δυναστεύουσιν, ἐπιμειδιῶντας πολλάκις ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν κακῶν ἀγνοίας τῷ δυστυχήματι. Χηρείας δὲ γένεσις τίς ἄλλη καὶ οὐχὶ γάμος ἐστίν; Οὐκοῦν ἡ ἀναχώ ρησις τούτου πάντων ἀθρόως τῶν κακῶν τούτων λειτουρ γημάτων τὴν ἀτέλειαν ἔχει, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπεικός· ὅπου γὰρ ἀναλύεται μὲν ἡ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁρισθεῖσα κατὰ τῶν πεπλημμελη κότων κατάκρισις, οὐκέτι δὲ θλίψεις τῶν μητέρων κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον πληθύνονται οὐδὲ λύπη τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης προηγεῖται γενέσεως, συνανῄρηται πάντως ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ βίου συμφορὰ καὶ ἀφῄρηται τῶν προσώπων τὸ δάκρυον, καθώς φησιν ὁ προφήτης· οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἀνομίαις ἐστὶν ἡ σύλληψις ἔτι, οὐδὲ ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ἡ κύησις, οὐδὲ ἐξ αἱμάτων, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς καὶ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός, ἀλλ' ἐκ θεοῦ μόνου ἡ γέννησις γίνεται. Τοῦτο δὲ γίνεται, ὅταν συλλαμ βάνῃ μέν τις ἐν τῷ ζωτικῷ τῆς καρδίας τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν τοῦ πνεύματος, τίκτῃ δὲ «σοφίαν τε καὶ δικαιοσύνην, ἁγιασμόν τε καὶ ἀπολύτρωσιν». Παντὶ γὰρ ἔξεστι μητέρα γενέσθαι τοῦ ταῦτα ὄντος, καθώς φησί που ὁ κύριος, ὅτι «Ὁ τὸ θέλημά μου ποιῶν καὶ ἀδελφὸς καὶ ἀδελφὴ καὶ μήτηρ μού ἐστιν.» 14.4 Τίνα οὖν χώραν ἔχει ἔτι ἐπὶ τῶν τοιούτων κυημάτων ὁ θάνατος; Ὄντως «κατεπόθη ἐν