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the one thus entrusted to us; but when after this he also becomes angry with and indignant at them more than those who were themselves insulted, and becomes a harsh avenger, by this he draws them on much more; which is what God also did. In addition to these things, He also added the third bond, from nature, or, if you will, the first. And so that fathers, being commanded to raise their children, might not despise His commandments, He imposed the necessity that comes from nature. But lest this bond, having become weaker through the insolence of the children, should ever be broken, He added the punishment both from Himself and from their very parents, both subjecting these children with great strictness, and by this stirring up the affection of those parents. Not only in this way, but also in a fourth way He has bound us to them strongly and with precision. For not only does He punish children who are wicked towards their parents, and accept those who become good, but He also does this very same thing in the case of fathers, punishing bitterly those who neglect them, but honoring and praising those who care for them. For indeed He punished that old man, although he was illustrious in other respects, for this neglect alone, and He honored the patriarch no less than others for this foresight; for in speaking of those many and great gifts which He promised to give him, and in stating the reason, He stated this one: For I knew, He says, that Abraham will command his sons, and his household after him, and they will keep the ways of the Lord God, to do righteousness and judgment. But these things have now been said by me, so that we may learn that God will not bear it lightly when those who are so zealously cared for by Him are neglected. For it is not characteristic of the same one to strive so much for their salvation, and yet to overlook these same ones when they are despised. Therefore He will not overlook it, but will be indignant and will be exceedingly angry, as has been shown through the events themselves. For this reason the blessed Paul also continuously exhorts, saying: Fathers, bring up your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. For if we are commanded to watch over their souls as those who will give an account, how much more the father who begot him, who raised him, who has him living with him always. For just as for his own sins he has no recourse to apology and excuse, so neither for the sins committed by his children. And this again the blessed Paul made clear. For when legislating what sort of men those should be who come to rule over others, along with all the other things that they must necessarily possess, he also requires the care of their children, as if there were no excuse for us if they have been corrupted; and very reasonably so. For if wickedness were inherent in men by nature, one might reasonably have recourse to an apology; but since it is by choice that we become both wicked 47.356 and virtuous, what plausible reason could he give who allows the one most longed for of all to be corrupted and become wicked? That he did not want to make him good? But no father would say this; for nature stands over him, continually stirring him up to this. But he was not able? But not this either; for to take him while he is still tender, and to be the first and only one entrusted with authority over him, and to have him indoors always, makes the oversight of him easy and very convenient. So that the corruption of children comes from nowhere else but from the madness concerning worldly things; for to look only to those things, and to be unwilling to prefer any of these other things, they are forced to neglect their children along with their own souls. And let no one think what is said is out of anger—I would say that these fathers are worse even than child-murderers. For the latter separate the body from the soul, but the former, carrying both it and the body, cast them into the fire of Gehenna; and that death it is necessary to receive from nature in any case, but this one it was possible to escape, had not the carelessness of the fathers brought it upon him. In addition to these, that of the body

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τὸν οὕτως ἐμπιστευθέντα ἡμῖν· ὅταν δὲ μετὰ τοῦτο καὶ συνοργίζηται καὶ ἀγανακτῇ πλέον τῶν ὑβρισμένων αὐτῶν, καὶ χαλεπὸς γίνηται τιμωρὸς, καὶ ταύτῃ πολὺ πλέον ἐφέλκεται· ὅπερ οὖν ἐποίησε καὶ ὁ Θεός. Πρὸς τούτοις καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως τρίτον ἐπήγαγε δεσμὸν, εἰ δὲ βούλει, πρῶτον. Καὶ ἵνα μὲν τῶν προσταγμάτων αὐτοῦ μὴ καταφρονῶσιν οἱ πατέρες, κελευόμενοι τρέφειν τοὺς παῖδας, τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως ἐπέθηκεν ἀνάγκην. Ἵνα δὲ μή ποτε ταῖς τῶν παίδων ὕβρεσιν ἀσθενεστέρα γενομένη αὕτη διαῤῥήγνυται, τήν τε παρ' αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν παρ' αὐτῶν τῶν γεννησαμένων ἐπετείχισε τιμωρίαν, καὶ τούτους μετὰ ἀκριβείας ὑποτάσσων πολλῆς, κἀκείνων ταύτῃ διεγείρων τὸν πόθον. Οὐ ταύτῃ δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑτέρῳ τετάρτῳ τρόπῳ σφοδρῶς ἡμᾶς καὶ μετὰ ἀκριβείας αὐτοῖς συνέδησεν. Οὐ γὰρ τοὺς παῖδας μόνον κακοὺς μὲν ὄντας περὶ τοὺς γεγεννηκότας κολάζει, γινομένους δὲ ἀγαθοὺς ἀποδέχεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν πατέρων τὸ αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο ποιεῖ, κολάζων μὲν πικρῶς τοὺς ἀμελοῦντας αὐτῶν, τιμῶν δὲ καὶ ἐπαινῶν τοὺς ἐπιμελουμένους. Καὶ γὰρ τὸν πρεσβύτην τοῦτον, καίτοι τἄλλα ὅντα λαμπρὸν, ἀπὸ ταύτης τῆς ὀλιγωρίας ἐτιμωρήσατο μόνης, καὶ τὸν πατριάρχην δὲ τῶν ἄλλων οὐχ ἧττον ἀπὸ ταύτης ἐτίμησε τῆς προνοίας· λέγων γὰρ τὰς πολλὰς καὶ μεγάλας δωρεὰς ἐκείνας, ἃς ὑπέσχετο δώσειν αὐτῷ, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τιθεὶς, ταύτην ἐτίθει· Ἤδειν γὰρ, φησὶν, ὅτι συντάξει Ἀβραὰμ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ μετ' αὐτὸν, καὶ φυλάξουσι τὰς ὁδοὺς Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ, ποιεῖν δικαιοσύνην καὶ κρίσιν. Ταῦτα δέ μοι εἴρηται νῦν, ἵνα μάθωμεν ὅτι οὐκ οἴσει πράως ὁ Θεὸς ἀμελουμένων τῶν οὕτω περισπουδάστων αὐτῷ. Οὐδὲ γάρ ἐστι τοῦ αὐτοῦ τοσαῦτα μὲν ὑπὲρ τῆς τούτων πραγματεύεσθαι σωτηρίας, καταφρονουμένων δὲ αὐτῶν τούτων παρορᾷν. Οὐ τοίνυν περιόψεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγανακτήσει, καὶ ὀργιεῖται σφοδρῶς, καθάπερ ἀποδέδεικται διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῶν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος παραινεῖ συνεχῶς λέγων· Οἱ πατέρες, ἐκτρέφετε τὰ τέκνα ἐν παιδείᾳ καὶ νουθεσίᾳ Κυρίου. Εἰ γὰρ ἡμεῖς ἀγρυπνεῖν ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν αὐτῶν κελευόμεθα ὡς λόγον ἀποδώσοντες, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ὁ πατὴρ ὁ γεννησάμενος, ὁ θρεψάμενος, ὁ συνοικοῦντα ἔχων διαπαντός. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν οἰκείων ἁμαρτημάτων οὐκ ἔχει καταφυγεῖν εἰς ἀπολογίαν καὶ συγγνώμην, οὕτως οὐδὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν τοῖς παισὶν ἁμαρτανομένων. Καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος κατέστησε φανερόν. Νομοθετῶν γὰρ ὁποίους τινὰς εἶναι χρὴ τοὺς ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἅλλων ἐρχομένους ἀρχὴν, μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων τῶν ἀναγκαίως αὐτοῖς ὀφειλόντων προσεῖναι, καὶ τὴν τῶν παίδων ἐπιμέλειαν ἀπαιτεῖ, ὡς οὐκ οὔσης ἡμῖν συγγνώμης διαστραφέντων ἐκείνων· καὶ μάλα εἰκότως. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ φύσεως ἡ κακία τοῖς ἀνθρώποις προσῆν, εἰκότως ἄν τις πρὸς ἀπολογίαν κατέφυγεν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐκ προαιρέσεως καὶ φαῦλοι γινόμεθα 47.356 καὶ σπουδαῖοι, τίνα ἂν λόγον ἔχοι εὐπρόσωπον εἰπεῖν ὁ τὸν μάλιστα πάντων ποθούμενον διαστραφῆναι καὶ γενέσθαι πονηρὸν ἀφιείς; Ὅτι οὐκ ἐβούλετο ποιῆσαι χρηστόν; Ἀλλ' οὐδεὶς ἂν τοῦτο εἴποι πατήρ· ἡ γὰρ φύσις ἐφέστηκε πρὸς τοῦτο αὐτὸν διεγείρουσα συνεχῶς. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἠδύνατο; Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτο· καὶ γὰρ τὸ ἁπαλὸν ὄντα ἔτι λαβεῖν, καὶ τὸ πρῶτον, καὶ μόνον τὴν ἐξουσίαν ἐγχειρισθῆναι τὴν ἐκείνου, καὶ τὸ διαπαντὸς ἔχειν ἔνδον, ῥᾳδίαν αὐτῷ καὶ σφόδρα εὔκολον ποιεῖ τὴν προστασίαν. Ὥστε οὐδαμόθεν τὴν διαστροφὴν γίνεσθαι τῶν παίδων, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς περὶ τὰ βιωτικὰ μανίας· τὸ γὰρ πρὸς ἐκεῖνα μόνον ἀποβλέπειν, καὶ μηδὲν τούτων ἐθέλειν προτιμᾷν, καὶ τῶν παίδων μετὰ τῆς αὐτῶν ψυχῆς ἀναγκάζονται ἀμελεῖν. Τούτους ἐγὼ τοὺς πατέρας καὶ μή τις θυμοῦ τὸ λεγόμενον εἶναι νομιζέτω καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν παιδοκτόνων χείρους εἶναι φαίην ἄν. Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν γὰρ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς διιστῶσιν, οὗτοι δὲ ταύτην μετ' ἐκείνου φέροντες εἰς τὴν τῆς γεέννης ἐμβάλλουσι πυράν· κἀκεῖνον μὲν ἀνάγκη τὸν θάνατον καὶ παρὰ τῆς φύσεως δέξασθαι πάντως, τοῦτον δὲ ἐνῆν καὶ διαφυγεῖν, εἰ μὴ ἡ τῶν πατέρων αὐτὸν ἐπήγαγε ῥᾳθυμία. Πρὸς τούτοις, τὴν μὲν τοῦ σώματος