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he may be burdened, but that 60.431 he might give an account for his own affairs, and with the prophets he himself approached those who turned away from him, being ready to give an account, and deeming it worthy to enter into discussion, and drawing those who were deaf to everything into dialogue with him. For, ‘My people,’ he says, ‘what have I done to you? Or how have I grieved you? Answer me.’ After all these things, we killed the prophets, we stoned them, we worked countless other evils. What then in return for these things? No longer prophets, no longer angels, no longer patriarchs, but he sent the Son himself. And the Son, having come, was killed, and not even so did he extinguish his love, but kindled it more greatly, and he persists in exhorting even after his Son was killed, and beseeching, and doing everything for them to return to him. And Paul cries out, saying: Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his appeal through us; be reconciled to God. 7. But none of these things has reconciled us. And not even so has he forsaken us, but he remains threatening Gehenna and promising a kingdom, that even in this way he might draw us to himself; but we are still disposed to be unfeeling. What could be worse than this brutishness? For if a man had done these things, would we not have become his slaves many times over? But we turn away from God when he does them? O the indolence! O the ingratitude! We who continually live in sins and wickedness, if we ever do some small good thing, like ungrateful servants we examine it with much petty calculation, and we are scrupulous about the recompense, whether what is done has any reward. And yet the reward is greater if you do not act in hope of rewards; for to say these things and to be scrupulous are the words of a hireling rather than a grateful servant. For one must do all things for Christ's sake, not for the reward; for he threatened Gehenna and promised a kingdom for this reason, that he might be loved by us. Let us therefore love him as one ought to love; for this is the great reward, this is the kingdom and pleasure, this is delight and glory and honor, this is light, this is the ten-thousandfold blessedness, which no word can express, nor mind comprehend. But indeed I do not know how I was led into these words, bidding men who do not even despise present rule and glory for Christ’s sake to despise the kingdom; and yet those great and noble men reached even this measure of love. Hear, at any rate, how Peter is on fire for him, preferring him to soul and life and all things; and when he denied him, he did not grieve because of the punishment, but because he had denied the one he longed for, which was more bitter to him than any punishment. And all these things he showed 60.432 before the grace of the Spirit, and he continually insisted, saying: Where are you going? and before that, To whom shall we go? and again, I will follow you wherever you go. For he was everything to them, and they esteemed neither heaven nor the kingdom of heaven before the one they longed for. ‘For you,’ he says, ‘are all those things to me.’ And why do you wonder, if Peter was so disposed? For hear what the prophet says: For what have I in heaven? And besides you, what have I desired on earth? What he says is this: ‘I desire nothing of things above, nor of things below, other than you alone.’ This is love, this is friendship; if we love in this way, we will consider not only present things, but also future things to be nothing in comparison to that affection, and from this we shall reap the kingdom, delighting in his love. And how will this be, you say? If we consider how many times we insult him after countless good things, yet he stands by exhorting; how many times we run past him, yet he does not overlook us, but runs after us and draws us and pulls us to himself. For if we consider these and similar things, we will be able to kindle this longing. For if a lowly man were the one so loving, and a king were the one so loved, would he not have been shamed by the magnitude of the love? Very much so, indeed. But when the opposite is the case, and that beauty and glory and wealth of the one who loves us is ineffable, while our lowliness is great, how are we not ten thousand times

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βαρήσῃ, ἀλλ' ἵνα 60.431 ὑπὲρ τῶν καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἀπολογήσηται, καὶ μετὰ τῶν προφητῶν καὶ αὐτὸς προσῄει τοῖς ἀποστρεφομένοις αὐτὸν, εὐθύνας ἕτοιμος ὢν παρασχεῖν, καὶ εἰς τὸν λόγον ἀξιῶν καθεῖναι, καὶ πρὸς ἅπαντα κεκωφωμένους εἰς τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν διάλεξιν ἕλκων. Λαὸς γάρ μου, φησὶ, τί ἐποίησά σοι; ἢ τί ἐλύπησά σε; ἀποκρίθητί μοι. Μετὰ ταῦτα ἅπαντα ἀπεκτείναμεν τοὺς προφήτας, ἐλιθάσαμεν, μυρία ἕτερα εἰργασάμεθα κακά. Τί οὖν ἀντὶ τούτων; Οὐκέτι προφήτας, οὐκέτι ἀγγέλους, οὐκέτι πατριάρχας, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν ἔπεμψε τὸν Υἱόν. Ἀνῃρέθη καὶ ὁ Υἱὸς ἐλθὼν, καὶ οὐδὲ οὕτως ἔσβεσε τὸν ἔρωτα, ἀλλ' ἀνῆψε μειζόνως, καὶ ἐπιμένει παρακαλῶν καὶ μετὰ τὸ τὸν Υἱὸν ἀναιρεθῆναι τὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ δεόμενος, καὶ πάντα ποιῶν ὑπὲρ τοῦ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπιστρέψαι. Καὶ βοᾷ Παῦλος λέγων· Ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ οὖν πρεσβεύομεν, ὡς τοῦ Θεοῦ παρακαλοῦντος δι' ἡμῶν· καταλλάγητε τῷ Θεῷ. ζʹ. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων ἡμᾶς κατήλλαξεν. Ὁ δὲ οὐδὲ οὕτως ἡμᾶς κατέλιπεν, ἀλλὰ μένει καὶ γέενναν ἀπειλῶν, καὶ βασιλείαν ἐπαγγελλόμενος, ἵνα κἂν οὕτως ἡμᾶς ἐφελκύσηται· ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀναλγήτως ἔτι διακείμεθα. Τί ταύτης τῆς θηριωδίας χεῖρον γένοιτ' ἄν; Εἰ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ταῦτα ἐποίησεν, οὐκ ἂν αὐτοῦ πολλάκις ἐγενόμεθα δοῦλοι; τὸν δὲ Θεὸν ποιοῦντα ἀποστρεφόμεθα; Ὢ τῆς ῥᾳθυμίας! ὢ τῆς ἀγνωμοσύνης! οἳ διαπαντὸς μὲν ἐν ἁμαρτίαις καὶ πονηρίαις ζῶμεν, ἂν δέ ποτέ τι καὶ ποιήσωμεν μικρὸν ἀγαθὸν, κατὰ τοὺς ἀγνώμονας τῶν οἰκετῶν μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς καπηλείας ἐξετάζομεν, καὶ ἀκριβολογούμεθα περὶ τῆς ἀντιδόσεως, εἴ γε ἔχει μισθόν τινα τὸ γινόμενον. Καὶ μὴν μείζων ὁ μισθὸς, ἐὰν μὴ ἐπ' ἐλπίδι μισθῶν ποιῇς· τὸ γὰρ ταῦτα λέγειν καὶ ἀκριβολογεῖσθαι, μισθωτοῦ μᾶλλον ῥήματά ἐστιν, ἢ εὐγνώμονος οἰκέτου. ∆εῖ γὰρ πάντα διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν ποιεῖν, οὐ διὰ τὸν μισθόν· καὶ γὰρ καὶ γέενναν διὰ τοῦτο ἠπείλησε, καὶ βασιλείαν ἐπηγγείλατο, ἵνα φιλῆται παρ' ἡμῶν. Φιλήσωμεν τοίνυν αὐτὸν, ὡς φιλεῖν χρή· τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ μέγας μισθὸς, τοῦτο βασιλεία καὶ ἡδονὴ, τοῦτο τρυφὴ καὶ δόξα καὶ τιμὴ, τοῦτο φῶς, τοῦτο ἡ μυριομακαριότης, ἣν οὐ λόγος παραστῆσαι δύναται, οὐ νοῦς καταλαβεῖν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐκ οἶδα πῶς εἰς τούτους παρήχθην τοὺς λόγους, ἀνθρώποις μηδὲ ἀρχῆς καὶ δόξης καταφρονοῦσι τῆς παρούσης διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν βασιλείας κελεύων καταφρονεῖν· καίτοι γε οἱ μεγάλοι καὶ γενναῖοι ἄνδρες ἐκεῖνοι καὶ εἰς τοῦτο τὸ μέτρον τῆς ἀγάπης ἔφθασαν. Ἄκουσον γοῦν πῶς ὁ Πέτρος περὶ αὐτοῦ περικαίεται, καὶ ψυχῆς καὶ ζωῆς καὶ πάντων αὐτὸν προτιθείς· καὶ ἡνίκα δὲ αὐτὸν ἠρνήσατο, οὐ διὰ τὴν κόλασιν ἐπένθει, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τὸν ποθούμενον ἠρνήσατο, ὃ πάσης κολάσεως αὐτῷ πικρότερον ἦν. Καὶ ταῦτα ἅπαντα πρὸ τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριτος ἐπεδεί 60.432 κνυτο, καὶ συνεχῶς ἐπέκειτο λέγων· Ποῦ ὑπάγεις; καὶ πρὸ τούτου, Πρὸς τίνα ἀπελευσόμεθα; καὶ πάλιν, Ἀκολουθήσω σοι ὅπου ἂν ἀπέρχῃ. Πάντα γὰρ αὐτὸς ἦν αὐτοῖς, καὶ οὔτε οὐρανὸν οὔτε βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν πρὸ τοῦ ποθουμένου ἦγον. Σὺ γάρ μοι πάντα ἐκεῖνα, φησί. Καὶ τί θαυμάζεις, εἰ Πέτρος οὕτω διέκειτο; Καὶ γὰρ ὁ προφήτης ἄκουσον τί φησι· Τί γάρ μοι ὑπάρχει ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ; καὶ παρὰ σοῦ τί ἠθέλησα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς; Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Οὐ τῶν ἄνω, οὐ τῶν κάτω οὐδενὸς ἐφίεμαι ἑτέρου, ἀλλ' ἢ σοῦ μόνου. Τοῦτό ἐστιν ἔρως, τοῦτο φιλία· ἂν οὕτω φιλήσωμεν, οὐ τὰ παρόντα μόνον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὰ μέλλοντα πρὸς τὸ φίλτρον ἐκεῖνο ἡγησόμεθά τι εἶναι, καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἐντεῦθεν καρπωσόμεθα, ἐντρυφῶντες αὐτοῦ τῇ ἀγάπῃ. Καὶ πῶς ἔσται τοῦτο, φησίν. Εἰ ἐννοήσομεν, ποσάκις αὐτὸν ὑβρίζομεν μετὰ μυρία ἀγαθὰ, αὐτὸς δὲ ἕστηκε παρακαλῶν· ὁσάκις αὐτὸν παρατρέχομεν, αὐτὸς δὲ οὐ παρορᾷ, ἀλλ' ἐπιτρέχει καὶ ἐφέλκεται καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπισπᾶται. Ἂν γὰρ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα λογισώμεθα, δυνησόμεθα τὸν πόθον ἀνάψαι τοῦτον. Εἰ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος εὐτελὴς ἦν ὁ οὕτω φιλῶν, βασιλεὺς δὲ ὁ οὕτω φιλούμενος, οὐκ ἂν ᾐδέσθη τῷ τοῦ ἔρωτος μεγέθει; Σφόδρα μὲν οὖν. Ὅταν δὲ τοὐναντίον τι ᾖ, καὶ ἄφατον μὲν ἐκεῖνο τὸ κάλλος καὶ ἡ δόξα καὶ ὁ πλοῦτος τοῦ φιλοῦντος ἡμᾶς, ἡμῶν δὲ πολλὴ ἡ εὐτέλεια, πῶς οὐχὶ μυρίας ἐσμὲν