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thinking that this my child also, if his father had survived, would have enjoyed so much blessedness; but now he is in dejection and dishonor, and is of no account. Do not then think these things, O woman, but open the gates of heaven with your reasoning, learn of the palaces there, see the king seated there, consider if these on earth can be more splendid there than your child, and then groan; but if there are any of good repute on earth, this is of no account; it is possible, if you wish, for him to serve in the heavens, to enlist in that army. For those who are enlisted there are not borne on horses, but in clouds; they do not walk on 62.434 earth, but are caught up into heaven; they do not have servants going before them, but the angels themselves; they do not stand beside a mortal king, but beside the immortal one, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; they do not have a leather girdle about their loins, but that unspeakable glory, through which they become more splendid than kings, and than those who have ever been of good repute. For in those palaces not wealth, not noble birth, nor anything else, but only virtue is sought; and when this is present, nothing is lacking for them to obtain the first places. Nothing is difficult for us, if we are willing to be philosophers. Look up to heaven, and see how much more splendid it is than the roof of palaces. And if the floor of the palaces above is so much more majestic than those below, that this compared to that is considered mire; if one should be deemed worthy to see the palaces accurately, of what blessedness will he not be worthy? She who is truly a widow, he says, and left desolate, has set her hope on God. To whom is this said? To those who have children, because they are more approved, and have more occasion to please God; because all their bonds are loosed; there is no one holding them, no one compelling them to drag those chains. You were separated from your husband, but you are united to God; you do not have your fellow servant as a companion, but you have the Master. When you pray, are you not speaking with God, tell me? When you read, hear him speaking with you. And what does he say to you? Words much more desirable than a husband's. For a husband, even if he flatters, the honor is not great; for he is a fellow servant; but when the Master flatters the handmaid, then great is the attendance. How then does he attend to us? Hear in how many ways he does this. Come, he says, to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. And again through the prophet he cries out, saying, Will a woman forget to have mercy on the children of her womb? Even if a woman should forget, yet I will not forget, says the Lord. Of how much love are these words? And again, Return to me; and again elsewhere, Return to me, and you will be saved. And if anyone wished to select from the Song of Songs, he will hear, taking them more mystically, My beautiful one, my dove, as he speaks to every soul that is fitting for him. What is sweeter than these words? Do you see the conversation of God with men? But what, tell me? Do you not see how many children of those blessed women have departed, and are in tombs? How many have suffered harder things, and lost sons along with their husbands? Let us attend to these things, let us be mindful of these things; and nothing will be grievous to us, but we will pass all our time living with spiritual joy, and we will enjoy the eternal good things; which may it be for all of us to obtain, by grace and love for mankind, and so forth.

HOMILY VII. But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you

sorrow, as others do who have no hope.

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ἐννοουμένας ὅτι καὶ οὗτος ὁ ἐμὸς παῖς, εἴ γε ὁ πατὴρ αὐτῷ περιῆν, τοσαύτης ἂν ἀπέλαυσε μακαριότητος· νῦν δὲ ἐν κατηφείᾳ καὶ ἀτιμίᾳ, καὶ οὐδενὸς ἄξιος λόγου ἐστί. Μὴ δὴ ταῦτα ἐννοῇς, ὦ γύναι, ἀλλ' ἀναπέτασον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὰς πύλας τῷ λογισμῷ, κατάμαθε τὰ ἐκεῖ βασίλεια, ἴδε τὸν ἐκεῖ καθήμενον βασιλέα, λόγισαι εἰ οὗτοι μᾶλλον οἱ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τοῦ παιδὸς τοῦ σοῦ δύνανται ἐκεῖ εἶναι λαμπρότεροι, καὶ τότε στέναξον· ἂν δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὦσί τινες εὐδόκιμοι, οὐδενὸς τοῦτο ἄξιον λόγου· ἔξεστιν, ἂν θέλῃς, ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς αὐτὸν στρατεῦσαι, εἰς ἐκείνην καταλέξαι τὴν στρατολογίαν. Οἱ γὰρ ἐκεῖ καταλεγόμενοι, οὐκ ἐφ' ἵππων φέρονται, ἀλλ' ἐν νεφέλαις· οὐκ ἐπὶ 62.434 γῆς βαδίζουσιν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἁρπάζονται· οὐ παῖδας ἔχουσι τοὺς προηγουμένους, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτούς· οὐ βασιλεῖ παρεστήκασι θνητῷ, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἀθανάτῳ, τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν βασιλευόντων, καὶ Κυρίῳ τῶν κυριευόντων· οὐ ζώνην δερματίνην περὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν ἔχουσιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν δόξαν ἐκείνην τὴν ἄῤῥητον, δι' ἣν καὶ βασιλέων γίνονται λαμπρότεροι, καὶ τῶν πώποτε εὐδοκιμηκότων. Ἐν γὰρ τοῖς βασιλείοις ἐκείνοις οὐ πλοῦτος, οὐκ εὐγένεια, οὐκ ἄλλο οὐδὲν, ἀλλ' ἀρετὴ ζητεῖται μόνον· καὶ ταύτης παρούσης, οὐδὲν ἐνδεῖ πρὸς τὸ τῶν πρωτείων αὐτοὺς τυχεῖν. Οὐδὲν ἡμῖν ἐστι δυσχερὲς, ἂν θέλωμεν φιλοσοφεῖν. Ἀνάνευσον εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ ὅρα πόσῳ τῆς ὀροφῆς τῶν βασιλείων λαμπρότερος οὗτος. Εἰ δὲ τὸ ἔδαφος τῶν ἄνω βασιλείων παρὰ τοσοῦτόν ἐστι τῶν κάτω σεμνότερον, ὡς τοῦτο πρὸς ἐκεῖνο βόρβορον νομίζεσθαι· εἴ τις ἂν ἀξιωθῇ τὰ βασίλεια ἀκριβῶς ἰδεῖν, τίνος οὐκ ἔσται μακαριότητος ἄξιος; Ἡ δὲ ὄντως χήρα, φησὶ, καὶ μεμονωμένη ἤλπικεν ἐπὶ τὸν Θεόν. Τοῦτο πρὸς τίνας εἴρηται; Πρὸς τὰς ἐχούσας παῖδας, ὅτι δοκιμώτεροι μᾶλλόν εἰσι, καὶ πλείονα ἀφορμὴν ἔχουσιν ἀρέσκειν Θεῷ· ὅτι πάντα αὐταῖς ἀνεῖται τὰ δεσμά· οὐδεὶς ὁ κατέχων, οὐδεὶς ὁ ἐπισύρεσθαι τὰς ἁλύσεις ἐκείνας ἀναγκάζων. Ἀπεσχίσθης τοῦ ἀνδρὸς, ἀλλ' ἡνώθης τῷ Θεῷ· οὐκ ἔχεις συνόμιλον τὸν ὁμόδουλον, ἀλλ' ἔχεις τὸν ∆εσπότην. Ὅταν εὔχῃ, οὐχὶ τῷ Θεῷ διαλέγῃ, εἰπέ μοι; ὅταν ἀναγινώσκῃς, ἄκουε αὐτοῦ σοι διαλεγομένου. Τί δέ σοι διαλέγεται; Πολλῷ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ποθεινότερα ῥήματα. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀνὴρ κἂν κολακεύῃ, οὐ πολλὴ ἡ τιμή· ὁμόδουλος γάρ ἐστιν· ὅταν δὲ ὁ ∆εσπότης τὴν δούλην κολακεύῃ, τότε πολλὴ ἡ θεραπεία. Πῶς οὖν ἡμᾶς θεραπεύει; Ἄκουσον δι' ὅσων τοῦτο ποιεῖ. ∆εῦτε, φησὶ, πρός με, πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς. Καὶ πάλιν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου βοᾷ, λέγων· Μὴ ἐπιλήσεται γυνὴ τοῦ ἐλεῆσαι τὰ ἔκγονα τῆς κοιλίας αὐτῆς; εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐπιλάθοιτο γυνὴ, ἀλλ' ἐγὼ οὐκ ἐπιλήσομαι, λέγει Κύριος. Πόσου ταῦτα φίλτρου τὰ ῥήματα; Καὶ πάλιν, Ἐπιστράφητε πρός με· καὶ πάλιν ἀλλαχοῦ, Ἐπίστρεψον πρός με, καὶ σωθήσῃ. Εἰ δέ τις καὶ ἐκ τῶν Ἀσμάτων βούλοιτο ἐκλέγειν, ἀκούσεται, μυστικώτερα αὐτὰ ἐκλαμβάνων, Ἡ καλή μου, ἡ περιστερά μου, πρὸς ψυχὴν ἑκάστην αὐτῷ πρέπουσαν διαλεγομένου. Τί τούτων τῶν ῥημάτων ἥδιον; Ὁρᾷς διάλεξιν Θεοῦ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους; Τί δὲ, εἰπέ μοι; οὐχ ὁρᾷς, ὅσοι ἐκείνων τῶν μακαρίων γυναικῶν παῖδες ἀπῆλθον, καὶ ἐν τάφοις εἰσίν; ὅσαι χαλεπώτερα πεπόνθασι, καὶ μετὰ τῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ υἱοὺς ἀπέβαλλον; Τούτοις προσανέχωμεν, ταῦτα μεριμνῶμεν· καὶ οὐδὲν ἡμῖν ἔσται λυπηρὸν, ἀλλὰ πάντα διατελέσομεν τὸν χρόνον μετὰ χαρᾶς πνευματικῆς διάγοντες, καὶ τῶν αἰωνίων ἀπολαύσομεν ἀγαθῶν· ὧν γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Ζʹ. Οὐ θέλω δὲ ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοὶ, περὶ τῶν κεκοιμημένων, ἵνα μὴ

λυπῆσθε, καθὼς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα.