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having demonstrated his love for us, he suffered for all of humanity and equally bestowed on all the hope of the resurrection; even if each person makes himself worthy either of glory or of punishment.

1.72 (οβ') The one who does not despise glory and dishonor, wealth and poverty, pleasure and pain, has not yet acquired perfect love; for perfect love not only despises these things, but also temporary life itself and death.

1.73 (ογ') Hear what those who have been deemed worthy of perfect love say: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And all the saints both say and do these things concerning the love for God.

1.74 (οδ') But concerning the love for one's neighbor, hear again what they say. I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 14__198 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites; and the rest. Likewise also Moses and the other saints.

1.75 (οε') The one who does not despise glory and pleasure and the love of money that increases these things and is composed of them, cannot cut off the occasions for anger; but he who does not cut these off, cannot attain perfect love.

1.76 (οστ') Humility and suffering free a person from all sin; the one cutting away the passions of the soul, the other, those of the body. For the blessed David also appears to be doing this, when he prays to God saying: Look on my humility and my labor and forgive all my sins.

1.77 (οζ') Through the commandments the Lord renders dispassionate those who practice them; and through the divine dogmas he bestows on them the enlightenment of knowledge.

1.78 (οη') All dogmas are either about God, or about visible and invisible things, or about the providence and judgment within them.

1.79 (οθ') Almsgiving heals the irascible part of the soul; fasting withers desire; prayer purifies the mind and prepares it for the contemplation of things that exist. For the Lord has bestowed the commandments on us for the powers of the soul.

1.80 (π') Learn from me, he says, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and the rest. Gentleness keeps the irascible part undisturbed; 14__200 and humility frees the mind from pride and vainglory.

1.81 (πα') The fear of God is twofold: the one is born in us from the threats of punishment, through which self-control and patience and hope in God and dispassion, from which comes love, are engendered in us in sequence; the other is yoked with love itself, always producing reverence in the soul, so that it does not come to contempt for God through the familiarity of love.

1.82 (πβ') Perfect love casts out the first fear from the soul that possesses it, which no longer fears punishment; but the second, as has been said, it always has yoked to itself. And to the first fear belongs: By the fear of the Lord everyone turns aside from evil, and: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And to the second: The

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αὑτοῦ ἀγάπην εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐνδειξάμενος, ὑπὲρ ὅλης τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ἔπαθεν καὶ πᾶσιν ἐξ ἴσου τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐχαρίσατο· εἰ καὶ ἕκαστος ἑαυτὸν εἴτε δόξης εἴτε κολάσεως καθίστησιν ἄξιον.

1.72 (οβ') Ὁ μὴ καταφρονῶν δόξης καὶ ἀτιμίας, πλούτου καὶ πενίας, ἡδονῆς τε καὶ λύπης, τελείαν ἀγάπην οὔπω ἐκτήσατο· ἡ γὰρ τελεία ἀγάπη οὐ μόνον τούτων καταφρονεῖ, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς προσκαίρου ζωῆς καὶ τοῦ θανάτου.

1.73 (ογ') Ἄκουε τῶν καταξιωθέντων τῆς τελείας ἀγάπης ποῖα λέγουσι· Τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ; Θλίψις ἢ στενοχωρία ἢ διωγμὸς ἢ λιμὸς ἢ γυμνότης ἢ κίνδυνος ἢ μάχαιρα; Καθὼς γέγραπται, ὅτι ἕνεκά σου θανατούμεθα ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν· ἐλογίσθημεν ὡς πρόβατα σφαγῆς. Ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τούτοις πᾶσιν ὑπερνικῶμεν διὰ τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος ἡμᾶς. Πέπεισμαι γὰρ ὅτι οὔτε θάνατος οὔτε ζωὴ οὔτε ἄγγελοι οὔτε ἀρχαὶ οὔτε δυνάμεις οὔτε ἐνεστῶτα οὔτε μέλλοντα οὔτε ὕψωμα οὔτε βάθος οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν· καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τῆς εἰς Θεὸν ἀγάπης καὶ λέγοντες καὶ πράττοντές εἰσι πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι.

1.74 (οδ') Περὶ δὲ τῆς εἰς τὸν πλησίον ἀγάπης ἄκουε πάλιν οἷα λέγουσιν. Ἀλήθειαν λέγω ἐν Χριστῷ, οὐ ψεύδομαι, συμμαρτυρούσης μοι καὶ τῆς συνειδήσεώς μου ἐν Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ· ὅτι λύπη μοί ἐστι πολλὴ καὶ ἀδιάλειπτος ὀδύνη τῇ καρδίᾳ μου. Ηὐχόμην 14__198 γὰρ ἀνάθεμα εἶναι αὐτὸς ἐγὼ ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου, τῶν συγγενῶν μου κατὰ σάρκα, οἵτινές εἰσιν Ἰσραηλῖται· καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ὡσαύτως καὶ ὁ Μωυσῆς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ ἅγιοι.

1.75 (οε') Ὁ μὴ καταφρονῶν δόξης καὶ ἡδονῆς καὶ τῆς τῶν τούτων αὐξητικῆς καὶ δι᾽ αὐτὰς συνισταμένης φιλαργυρίας, τὰς τοῦ θυμοῦ προφάσεις κόπτειν οὐ δύναται· ὁ δὲ ταύτας μὴ κόπτων, τῆς τελείας ἀγάπης τυχεῖν οὐ δύναται.

1.76 (οστ') Ταπείνωσις καὶ κακοπάθεια πάσης ἁμαρτίας ἐλευθεροῦσι τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ἡ μέν, τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς· ἡ δέ, τὰ τοῦ σώματος περικόπτουσα πάθη. Τοῦτο γὰρ ποιῶν καὶ ὁ μακάριος ∆αβὶδ φαίνεται, ἐν οἷς εὔχεται πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν λέγων· Ἰδὲ τὴν ταπείνωσίν μου καὶ τὸν κόπον μου καὶ ἄφες πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας μου.

1.77 (οζ') ∆ιὰ μὲν τῶν ἐντολῶν ὁ Κύριος ἀπαθεῖς τοὺς ἐργαζομένους αὐτὰς ἀποτελεῖ· διὰ δὲ τῶν θείων δογμάτων τὸν φωτισμὸν τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῖς χαρίζεται.

1.78 (οη') Πάντα τὰ δόγματα ἢ περὶ Θεοῦ εἰσιν ἢ περὶ ὁρατῶν καὶ ἀοράτων ἢ περὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς προνοίας καὶ κρίσεως.

1.79 (οθ') Ἡ μὲν ἐλεημοσύνη τὸ θυμικὸν μέρος τῆς ψυχῆς θεραπεύει· ἡ δὲ νηστεία τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν μαραίνει· ἡ δὲ προσευχὴ τὸν νοῦν καθαίρει καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὄντων θεωρίαν παρασκευάζει. Πρὸς γὰρ τὰς δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς ὁ Κύριος ἡμῖν ἐχαρίσατο.

1.80 (π') Μάθετε ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ, φησίν, ὅτι πρᾶός εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Ἡ μὲν πραότης ἀτάραχον τὸν θυμὸν διαφυλάττει· 14__200 ἡ δὲ ταπείνωσις τύφου καὶ κενοδοξίας τὸν νοῦν ἐλευθεροῖ.

1.81 (πα') ∆ιττός ἐστιν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβος· ὁ μὲν ἐκ τῶν ἀπειλῶν τῆς κολάσεως ἡμῖν ἐντικτόμενος, δι᾽ ὃν ἡ ἐγκράτεια καὶ ἡ ὑπομονὴ καὶ ἡ εἰς Θεὸν ἐλπὶς καὶ ἡ ἀπάθεια, ἐξ ἧς ἡ ἀγάπη, κατὰ τάξιν ἡμῖν ἐγγίνονται· ὁ δὲ αὐτῇ τῇ ἀγάπῃ συνέζευκται, εὐλάβειαν τῇ ψυχῇ ἀεὶ ἐμποιῶν, ἵνα μὴ διὰ τὴν τῆς ἀγάπης παρρησίαν εἰς καταφρόνησιν Θεοῦ ἔλθῃ.

1.82 (πβ') Τὸν μὲν πρῶτον φόβον ἔξω βάλλει ἡ τελεία ἀγάπη τῆς ψυχῆς τῆς κεκτημένης αὐτήν, μηκέτι τὴν κόλασιν φοβουμένην· τὸν δὲ δεύτερον ἑαυτῇ ἔχει ἀεί, ὡς εἴρηται, συνεζευγμένον. Καὶ τῷ μὲν πρώτῳ φόβῳ ἁρμόζει τό· Τῷ φόβῳ Κυρίου ἐκκλίνει πᾶς ἀπὸ κακοῦ, καί· Ἀρχὴ σοφίας, φόβος Κυρίου. Τῷ δὲ δευτέρῳ τό· Ὁ