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a transcendent nature, and another of being mingled with him through purity of life; the voice of the saints defines the former kind of comprehension as impossible; but the second the Lord promises to human nature through the present teaching, saying, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' And how it is possible to become pure, you may learn this through almost all of the evangelical teaching. For by running through the subsequent commandments, you will find the means of purifying the heart clearly. For having divided wickedness into two, that which is through deeds and that which consists in thoughts, he first, through the ancient law, punished the injustice manifested through deeds, but now he has made the law look to the other kind of sin, not punishing the evil deed, but taking care that it should not even have a beginning. For to remove wickedness from the will is, by a great abundance, to make one's life alien to evil deeds. And since wickedness is of many parts and many forms, to each of the things forbidden he has opposed its own remedy through the commandments. And since the sickness of anger is for the most part ready at hand throughout all of life, he begins the cure from that which is more prevalent, legislating in the first place against anger. You were taught, he says, by the more ancient 44.1276 law not to murder; now learn to separate from the soul anger against your fellow men. For he did not forbid anger altogether; for it is possible sometimes to use such an impulse of the soul for a good purpose, but to be angry with one's brother for no good reason, this the commandment has quenched. For everyone who is angry with his brother without cause. For the addition of 'without cause,' shows the frequent timeliness of the use of anger, when the passion boils for the punishment of sin. This kind of anger the word of Scripture testified beforehand to Phinehas, when by the slaughter of the transgressors he appeased the threat of God that had been stirred up against the people. Again, he moves on in his remedy to the sins committed through pleasure, and he removes the wicked desire for adultery from the heart through the commandment. Thus you will find all things one by one, which the Lord corrects in what follows, standing against each of the forms of wickedness with his laws. He forbids the rule of unjust hands, by not even permitting self-defense. He sets bounds to the passion of greed, by commanding to give to him who takes away even what is left. He cures cowardice, by urging us to have contempt for death, And in general, through each of the commandments, you will find the ploughing word, like a plough, digging up the evil roots of sins from the depth of our heart, by which it is possible to be cleansed of the thorny fruit-bearing. Therefore nature is benefited by both, by what good things he promises, and by the teaching for the matter at hand which he lays down for us. But if the pursuit of good things seems laborious to you, compare it with the opposite life and you will find how much more laborious wickedness is, if you look not to the present, but to what comes after. For he who has heard of Gehenna will no longer be separated from the pleasures of sin with any labor and zeal; but fear alone, having arisen in his thoughts, will suffice to banish the passions. Rather, it is good, having understood what is implicitly heard in what is unsaid, to receive from this a more intense desire. For if the pure in heart are blessed, then surely pitiable are those whose mind is defiled; because they look upon the face of the adversary. And if the divine character itself is impressed upon a life of virtue, it is clear that a life of wickedness becomes the form and face of the adversary. But indeed, if according to various conceptions God is named for each of the things conceived as good, light, and life, and incorruption, and as many things as are of such a kind; surely by inversion, the opposite of each of these will be named for the inventor of wickedness, darkness and

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ὑπερκειμένην φύσιν, ἑτέρας δὲ τοῦ ἀνακραθῆναι πρὸς αὐτὸν διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ζωὴν καθαρότητος· τὸ μὲν πρότερον τῆς κατα νοήσεως εἶδος ἀμήχανον εἶναι ἡ τῶν ἁγίων φωνὴ δι ορίζεται· τὸ δὲ δεύτερον ὑπισχνεῖται τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει διὰ τῆς παρούσης διδασκαλίας ὁ Κύριος εἰπὼν, Μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν Θεὸν ὄψονται. Τὸ δὲ ὅπως ἔστι καθαρὸν γενέσθαι, διὰ πάσης σχε δὸν τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας ἔξεστί σοι τὸ τοι οῦτον μαθεῖν. Τοῖς γὰρ ἐφεξῆς ἐπιδραμὼν παραγγέλ μασι, σαφὲς εὑρήσεις τὸ τῆς καρδίας καθάρσιον. Εἰς δύο γὰρ διελὼν τὴν κακίαν, τήν τε διὰ τῶν ἔργων, καὶ τὴν ἐν νοήμασι συνισταμένην, πρότερον μὲν διὰ τοῦ ἀρχαίου νόμου, τὴν διὰ τῶν ἔργων φανερουμένην ἀδικίαν ἐκόλασεν, νυνὶ δὲ περὶ τὸ ἕτερον τῆς ἁμαρ τίας εἶδος βλέπειν τὸν νόμον ἐποίησεν, οὐ τὸ ἔργον τὸ πονηρὸν τιμωρούμενος, ἀλλ' ὅπως ἂν μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν γένοιτο προμηθούμενος. Τὸ γὰρ τῆς προαιρέσεως ἐξελεῖν τὴν κακίαν, ἐκ πολλοῦ τοῦ περιόντος ἐστὶν ἀλλότριον τῶν πονηρῶν ἔργων τὸν βίον ἐργάσασθαι. Πολυμεροῦς δὲ καὶ πολυειδοῦς τῆς κακίας οὔσης, ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἀπηγορουμένων ἰδίαν τὴν διὰ τῶν παρ αγγελμάτων θεραπείαν ἀντέθηκεν. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ πρό χειρον ὡς ἐπὶ πολὺ παρὰ πάντα τὸν βίον τὸ κατὰ τὴν ὀργήν ἐστιν ἀῤῥώστημα, ἐκ τοῦ μᾶλλον ἐπικρα τοῦντος τῆς θεραπείας ἄρχεται, τὸ ἀόργητον ἐν πρώ τοις νομοθετήσας. Ἐδιδάχθης, φησὶ, παρὰ τοῦ ἀρχαιο 44.1276 τέρου νόμου, τὸ Μὴ φονεῦσαι, νῦν μάθε τὸ χωρίσαι τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν κατὰ τῶν ὁμοφύλων ὀργήν. Οὐ γὰρ καθόλου τὴν ὀργὴν ἀπεῖπεν· ἔστι γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ καλῷ ποτε τῇ τοιαύτῃ τῆς ψυχῆς χρήσασθαι ὁρμῇ, ἀλλὰ τὸ πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν ὀργιστικῶς ποτε σχεῖν ἐπὶ μηδενὶ ἀγαθῷ, τοῦτο ἡ παραγγελία κατέσβεσεν. Πᾶς γὰρ ὁ ὀργιζόμενος τῷ ἀδελφῷ ἐκ τοῦ εἰκῆ. Ἡ γὰρ προσθήκη τοῦ εἰκῆ, δείκνυσι τὸ εὔκαιρον πολλάκις τῆς τοῦ θυμοῦ χρήσεως, ὅταν ἐπὶ κολάσει τῆς ἁμαρ τίας ζέσῃ τὸ πάθος. Τοῦτο τὸ εἶδος τῆς ὀργῆς τῷ Φηνεὲς ὁ τῆς Γραφῆς λόγος προεμαρτύρησεν, ὅτε τῇ σφαγῇ τῶν παρανομούντων τὴν κατὰ τοῦ λαοῦ κινη θεῖσαν ἀπειλὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἱλεώσατο. Πάλιν μεταβαίνει τῇ θεραπείᾳ πρὸς τὰ διὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς πλημμελούμενα, καὶ τῆς μοιχείας τὴν ἄτοπον ἐπιθυμίαν ἐξαιρεῖ τῆς καρδίας διὰ τοῦ παραγγέλματος. Οὕτω καὶ τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον πάντα εὑρήσεις, ἐν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς διορθοῦντα τὸν Κύριον, πρὸς ἕκαστον τῶν τῆς κακίας εἰδῶν ταῖς νομοθεσίαις ἱστάμενον. Κωλύει τὸ ἄρχειν ἀδίκων χειρῶν, διὰ τὸ μηδὲ ἀμύνεσθαι συγχωρῆσαι. Ὑπερ ορίζει τὸ κατὰ πλεονεξίαν πάθος, διὰ τοῦ πρὸς τὸ ἀποδύνεσθαι τῷ ἀφελομένῳ, καὶ τὸ ὑπολειφθὲν προσ τάξαι. Θεραπεύει τὴν δειλίαν, καταφρονητικῶς πρὸς τὸν θάνατον ἔχειν ἐκκελευόμενος, Καὶ ὅλως δι' ἑκά στου τῶν παραγγελμάτων, εὑρήσεις ἀρότρου δίκην τὸν ἀροτριακὸν λόγον, τὰς πονηρὰς τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ῥίζας ἐκ τοῦ βάθους τῆς καρδίας ἡμῶν ἀνορύσσοντα, δι' ὧν ἔστι τῆς ἀκανθώδους καθαρθῆναι καρποφορίας. Οὐκοῦν δι' ἀμφοτέρων εὐεργετεῖται τὴν φύσιν, οἷς τε τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐπαγγέλλεται, οἷς τε τὴν πρὸς τὸ προκεί μενον διδασκαλίαν ἡμῖν ὑποτίθεται. Εἰ δὲ ἐπίπονος τῶν ἀγαθῶν σπουδή σοι νομίζεται, σύγκρινον τῷ ἐναντίῳ βίῳ καὶ εὑρήσεις ὅσον ἐπιπονωτέρα ἐστὶν ἡ κακία, εἰ μὴ πρὸς τὸ παρὸν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ μετὰ ταῦτα βλέ ποις. Ὁ γὰρ γεέννας ἀκούσας, οὐκέτι πόνῳ τινὶ καὶ σπουδῇ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἡδονῶν χωρισθήσε· ἀλλ' ἀρκέσει μόνος ὁ φόβος τοῖς λογισμοῖς ἐγ γενόμενος, ἐξορίσαι τὰ πάθη. Μᾶλλον δὲ καλῶς ἔχει τῷ σιωπωμένῳ συνυπακουόμενον κατανοήσαντας, σφο δροτέραν ἐντεῦθεν τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν λαβεῖν. Εἰ γὰρ μα κάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ, ἐλεεινοὶ πάντως οἱ κατ εῤῥυπωμένοι τὸν νοῦν· ὅτι πρὸς τὸ τοῦ ἀντικειμένου πρόσωπον βλέπουσιν. Καὶ εἰ αὐτὸς ὁ θεῖος χαρακτὴρ τῷ κατ' ἀρετὴν ἐντυποῦται βίῳ, δῆλον ὅτι ἡ κατὰ κακίαν ζωὴ μορφὴ καὶ πρόσωπον τοῦ ἀντικειμένου γίνεται. Ἀλλὰ μὴν εἰ κατὰ διαφόρους ἐπινοίας ὁ Θεὸς ἑκάστῳ τῶν κατὰ τὸ ἀγαθὸν νοουμένων ἐπονομάζεται, φῶς, καὶ ζωὴ, καὶ ἀφθαρσία, καὶ ὅσα τοῦ τοιούτου γένους ἐστίν· πάντως ἐκ τοῦ ἀντιστρόφου, τὸ ἑκάστου τούτων ἀντικείμενον, τῷ τῆς κακίας εὑρέτῃ ὀνομασθήσεται, σκότος καὶ