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having heard that those persecuted for the Lord’s sake become of the heavens, saw what was expected, while he was being persecuted. For to him running through confession, what is hoped for is shown: heaven opening, the divine glory stooping down from its super-cosmic end toward the contest of the runner, He Himself who is witnessed by the athlete in the contests. For the stance of the judge of the contest indicates enigmatically his alliance with the one competing, so that through this we might learn that He is the same one who both establishes the contests and joins with His own contestants against their adversaries. What then could be more blessed than the one persecuted for the Lord’s sake, who has the judge of the contest as a fellow-competitor? For it is not among the easy things, and perhaps even utterly impossible, to prefer the unseen good to the visible pleasures of this life, so that one might easily choose either to be driven from one’s house, or to be separated from wife and children, and brothers and parents, and peers, and all the pleasures of life, unless the Lord Himself cooperates toward the good with the one who has been called according to purpose. For whom He foreknows, as the Apostle says, this one 44.1297 He also predestines, and calls, and justifies, and glorifies. Since, then, the soul is somehow joined through the bodily senses to the pleasures of life, and is delighted through the eyes by the fair color of matter, and by hearing has an inclination toward pleasant sounds, and by smell and taste and touch, it is disposed in a kindred way to each, as is its nature. For this reason, being fastened as if by some nail to the pleasures of life by the power of sense, it is with difficulty detached from these things to which it grew attached, and like tortoises and snails, bound as if in some shell-like covering, it is difficult for it to move towards such motions, dragging along with it the whole burden of life. Therefore the soul in such a state also becomes easily captured by those who persecute with the threat of confiscation, or loss, or of anything else that is prized in this life, easily giving in and becoming subject to the persecutor; but when the living word, as the Apostle says, which is active and sharper than any two-edged sword, comes within the one who has truly received the faith, and cuts through the things that have grown together evilly, and severs the bonds of habit; then, shaking the worldly pleasures from his shoulders like a runner does a burden bound to his soul, light and well-equipped he runs through the stadium of the contests, using the judge of the contest himself as a guide for the race. For he does not look at what he has left behind, but at what he pursues; nor does he turn his eye to the pleasure that is behind, but he goes toward the good that lies ahead; nor is he pained by the loss of earthly things, but he rejoices in the gain of heavenly things, and for this reason he readily accepts every form of punishment, as an occasion and assistance for the joy that lies ahead; fire, as a purification of matter; the sword, as separating the mind’s natural union with material and carnal things; every contrivance of pains and sufferings he eagerly receives, as an antidote to the evil poison that comes through pleasure. Just as those who are full of humors and bilious readily drink the bitter remedy, so that through it the cause of the disease might be washed away; so he who is persecuted by the enemy and flees to God receives the invasion of pains, being an extinguisher of the activity of pleasure; for it is not possible for one in pain to feel pleasure. Since, therefore, sin entered through pleasure, for this reason it will surely be driven out by its opposite. Therefore, those who persecute on account of confession in the Lord, and who devise unbearable punishments, offer a certain healing to souls through suffering, treating the disease of pleasure with the assaults of pain. Thus Paul accepts the cross; James the sword; Stephen the stones; the blessed Peter crucifixion upside down; all the subsequent contenders for the faith, the manifold forms of punishments, wild beasts,

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οὐρανῶν τοὺς ἕνεκεν τοῦ Κυρίου δεδιωγμένους ἀκούσας γενέσθαι, εἶδε τὸ προσδοκώμενον, ἐν ᾧ ἐδιώκετο. Τρέχοντι γὰρ αὐτῷ διὰ τῆς ὁμολογίας, τὸ ἐλπιζόμενον δείκνυται, οὐρανὸς ἀνοιγόμενος, ἡ θεία δόξα πρὸς τὸν ἀγῶνα τοῦ τρέ χοντος ἐκ τῆς ὑπερκοσμίου λήξεως κατακύπτουσα, αὐτὸς ὁ ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσιν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀθλητοῦ μαρτυρού μενος. Ἡ γὰρ τοῦ ἀγωνοθέτου στάσις τὴν πρὸς τὸν ἀγωνιζόμενον συμμαχίαν παραδηλοῖ δι' αἰνίγματος, ὡς ἂν διὰ τούτου μάθοιμεν τὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι καὶ τὸν διατιθέντα τοὺς ἄθλους, καὶ τὸν κατὰ τῶν ἀντιπάλων τοῖς ἰδίοις ἀγωνισταῖς συνιστάμενον. Τί τοίνυν ἂν εἴη μακαριώτερον τοῦ διὰ τὸν Κύριον δεδιωγμέ νου, ᾧ ὑπάρχει συναγωνιστὴν τὸν ἀγωνοθέτην ἔχειν; Οὐδὲ γὰρ τῶν εὐκόλων ἐστὶν, τάχα δὲ καὶ καθ άπαξ ἀδύνατον, τῶν κατὰ τὴν ζωὴν ταύτην ἡδέων τὸ μὴ φαινόμενον ἀγαθὸν προτιμῆσαι τῶν φαινομένων, ὥστε ῥᾳδίως ἑλέσθαι τινὰ, ἢ τῆς οἰκίας ἐξοικισθῆναι, ἢ γαμετῆς καὶ παίδων, ἀδελφῶν τε καὶ γονέων, καὶ ὁμηλίκων, καὶ πάντων τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον ἡδέων ἔξω γενέσθαι, μὴ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου συνεργοῦντος πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν τῷ κατὰ πρόθεσιν κλητῷ γεγονότι. Ὃν γὰρ προγινώσκει, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, τοῦτον 44.1297 καὶ προορίζει, καὶ καλεῖ, καὶ δικαιοῖ, καὶ δοξάζει. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν συμφύεταί πως ἡ ψυχὴ διὰ τῶν σω ματικῶν αἰσθήσεων πρὸς τὰ ἡδέα τοῦ βίου, καὶ τῇ εὐχροίᾳ τῆς ὕλης διὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐπιτέρπεται, καὶ τῇ ἀκοῇ πρὸς τὰ ἡδέα τῶν ἀκροαμάτων τὴν ῥοπὴν ἔχει, τῇ τε ὀσφρήσει καὶ τῇ γεύσει καὶ τῇ ἁφῇ, καθὸ πέφυκεν οἰκείως ἔχειν ἑκάστῃ συνδιατίθεται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οἷόν τινι ἥλῳ πρὸς τὰ ἡδέα τοῦ βίου τῇ αἰσθητικῇ δυνάμει προσκολλωμένη, δυσαποσπάστως ἔχει τούτων, οἷς συνεφύη προσκολληθεῖσα, καὶ κατὰ τὰς χελώνας καὶ τοὺς κοχλίας οἷόν τινι ὀστρακίνῳ καλύμματι ἐνδεδεμένη δυσπόρευτός ἐστι πρὸς τὰς τοιαύτας κινήσεις, ὅλον συνεπισυρομένη τοῦ βίου τὸ ἄχθος. ∆ιὸ καὶ εὐάλωτος γίνεται ἡ οὕτως ἔχουσα τοῖς διώκουσι πρὸς δημεύσεως ἀπειλὴν, ἢ ζημίαν, ἤ τινος ἄλλου τῶν κατὰ τὴν ζωὴν ταύτην σπουδαζομένων, εὐχερῶς ἐνδιδοῦσα καὶ ὑπόχειρος γινομένη τῷ διώ κοντι· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὰν ὁ ζῶν λόγος, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ὁ ἐνεργὸς καὶ τμητικὸς ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν μά χαιραν δίστομον, ἐντὸς γένηται τοῦ ἀληθῶς παρα δεξαμένου τὴν πίστιν, καὶ διατέμῃ τὰ κακῶς συμ πεφυκότα, καὶ τὰ τῆς συνηθείας δεσμὰ διακόψῃ· τότε, καθάπερ τι ἄχθος τῇ ψυχῇ συνδεδεμένον τὰς κοσμικὰς ἡδονὰς, οἷόν τις δρομεὺς τῶν ὤμων ἀπο σεισάμενος, κοῦφος καὶ εὐσταλὴς τὸ τῶν ἀγώνων στάδιον διεξέρχεται, χειραγωγῷ πρὸς τὸν δρόμον αὐτῷ τῷ ἀγωνοθέτῃ χρώμενος. Οὐ γὰρ ὅσα κατέλι πεν βλέπει, ἀλλ' ὅσα μετέρχεται· οὐδὲ πρὸς τὸ κατό πιν ἡδὺ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἐπιστρέφει, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ προ κείμενον ἀγαθὸν ἴεται· οὐδὲ τῇ ζημίᾳ τῶν γηΐνων ἀλγύνεται, ἀλλὰ τῷ κέρδει τῶν ἐπουρανίων ἀγάλλε, διὰ τοῦτο πᾶν κολαστηρίων εἶδος, ὡς ἀφορμὴν καὶ συνέργειαν τῆς προκειμένης χαρᾶς, ἑτοίμως δέ χεται· τὸ πῦρ, ὡς τῆς ὕλης καθάρσιον· τὸ ξίφος, ὡς διαιρετικὸν τῆς πρὸς τὰ ὑλώδη καὶ σάρκινα τοῦ νοῦ συμφυΐας· πᾶσαν πόνων τε καὶ ἀλγημάτων ἐπίνοιαν, ὡς τοῦ πονηροῦ δηλητηρίου τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἡδονὴν ἀντιφάρμακον οὖσαν, προθύμως δέχεται. Καθάπερ οἱ περιττωματικοὶ καὶ χολώδεις, ἑτοίμως σπῶσι τῆς πικρᾶς ἀντιδόσεως, ὡς ἂν δι' ἐκείνης τὸ νοσοποιὸν αἴτιον ἀποκλυσθείη· οὕτω δέχεται ὁ παρὰ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ διωκόμενος καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν φεύγων, τὴν τῶν ἀλ γεινῶν εἰσβολὴν, σβεστήριον οὖσαν τῆς καθ' ἡδονὴν ἐνεργείας· οὐκ ἔστι γὰρ ἡσθῆναι τὸν ἀλγυνόμενον. Ἐπεὶ οὖν δι' ἡδονῆς εἰσῆλθεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, διὰ τοῦτο ἐναντίου πάντως ἐξελαθήσεται. Οὐκοῦν οἱ διώκοντες διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸν Κύριον ὁμολογίαν, καὶ τὰ δυσβάστα κτα τῶν κολαστηρίων ἐπινοοῦντες, ἰατρείαν τινὰ ταῖς ψυχαῖς διὰ τῶν πόνων προσάγουσι, ταῖς τῶν ἀλγεινῶν προσβολαῖς τὴν καθ' ἡδονὴν θεραπεύοντες νόσον. Οὕτω δέχεται τὸν σταυρὸν ὁ Παῦλος· τὸ ξίφος Ἰάκωβος· τοὺς λίθους Στέφανος· τὸν ἐπὶ κεφαλὴν ἀνασκολοπισμὸν ὁ μακάριος Πέτρος· πάντες οἱ μετὰ ταῦτα τῆς πίστεως ἀγωνισταὶ, τὰς πολυτρόπους τῶν κολαστηρίων ἰδέας, θηρία,