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and if we do not obey the enemy by our own will, in no other way can he work anything against us. For if before the law and the coming of Christ, without all of these aids, many and countless people pleased God and were shown to be blameless, of whom He translated the righteous Enoch and honored him with this translation, and He took up Elijah to heaven in a fiery chariot, what defense will we make, we who after grace and so great and so wondrous a benefaction, after the abolition of death and of sin, (103) after the regeneration of baptism and the protection of the holy angels and the very overshadowing and coming of the Holy Spirit, are not even found equal to those before grace, but are negligent and despise the commandments of God and transgress them? But that we who persist in evil will be punished more greatly than those who sinned under the law, the holy Paul declared, saying: “For if the word spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

Let each of us, therefore, who falls into any sin whatsoever, not blame Adam but himself, and let each of us show forth a worthy repentance as he did, if indeed he wishes to attain eternal life in the Lord. But if you will not, nor strive in every way, either to keep yourselves sinless by observing all the commandments, or, having transgressed in some matter, to repent until death and for each to weep bitterly for his own sin, but you persist in your hardness and unrepentant mind, thus says the Lord: “The earth will tremble exceedingly because of those who, after so many and so great wonders, after my manifestation in the world, after so great a teaching which I spread in the world, still procrastinate and disbelieve and disobey my words; and it will be rent into many pieces, unable to bear the ungrateful and stiff-necked and disobedient to me upon its back, and they shall see their fall (104) approaching before their feet, and they will tremble. For as the earth trembles, as the heaven is shaken and rolled up like a scroll with a rushing noise, by those fearful terrors their unbending and merciless hearts will be dismayed, like a hare at the hour of its slaughter. And the light will grow dark, the stars will fall, the sun and the moon will be extinguished over them, and from the chasms of the earth a fire will arise, gushing forth like the expanses of the seas. And just as at the time of the flood the cataracts of heaven were opened and the water came down and little by little covered the peoples, so also then the earth will be opened from its foundations, and the fire will be sent forth not little by little but all at once and will cover all the earth, and all will become a river of fire.”

What, then, will those do then who say: “Would that they had left me here, and I did not want the kingdom of heaven”? What will become of those who now laugh and say thus: “What then, do you bid us weep every day?” And those who engage in contradictions or murmurings or even worse things than these, what defense will they make then? Will they say: “We did not hear”? or: “No one admonished us”? or: “We were ignorant of Your name, O Master, Your dominion, Your strength, Your power”? “For how many things, O wretched ones,” He might rightly say to us, “did I foretell and command you through prophets, through apostles, through all My servants together, and through Myself? Did you not hear my gospels saying: ‘Repent’? (105) Did you not hear them saying: ‘Blessed are those who weep now, for they shall laugh’? Did you not hear me crying out: ‘Blessed are those who mourn’? But you laughed boisterously, speaking with one another and prolonging your idle talk, inviting one another to luncheons and gratifying your bellies. Did not I say: ‘How narrow is the gate and afflicted the way that leads

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καί εἰ μή τῷ οἰκείῳ θελήματι τῷ ἐχθρῷ ὑπακούσομεν, ἄλλως πως οὐ δύναται καθ᾿ ἡμῶν ἐνεργεῖν τι. Εἰ γάρ πρό τοῦ νόμου καί τῆς Χριστοῦ παρουσίας, τῶν βοηθημάτων τούτων ἁπάντων χωρίς, πολλοί καί ἀναρίθμητοι τῷ Θεῷ εὐηρέστησαν καί ἄμεπτοι ἀπεδείχθησαν, ἐξ ὧν τόν δίκαιον μέν Ἐνώχ μετέθετο καί τῇ μεταθέσει τοῦτον τετίμηκεν, Ἠλίαν δέ πυρίνῳ ἅρματι εἰς οὐρανόν ἀνελάβετο, τί ἀπολογησόμεθα ἡμεῖς, οἱ μετά τήν χάριν καί τήν τοσαύτην καί τηλικαύτην εὐεργεσίαν, μετά τήν τοῦ θανάτου καί τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀναίρεσιν, (103) μετά τήν τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἀναγέννησιν καί τήν τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων παραφυλακήν καί αὐτήν τήν ἐπισκίασιν καί ἐπέλευσιν τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος, μηδέ ἴσοι τοῖς πρό τῆς χάριτος εὑρισκόμενοι, ἀλλά ῥᾳθυμοῦντες καί τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταφρονοῦντες καί αὐτάς παραβαίνοντες; Ὁτι δέ μειζόνως ὑπέρ τούς ἐν τῷ νόμῳ ἁμαρτήσαντας κολασθησόμεθα τοῖς κακοῖς ἐπιμένοντες, ὁ ἅγιος Παῦλος ἐδήλωσεν εἰπών· "Εἰ γάρ ὁ δι᾿ ἀγγέλων λαληθείς λόγος ἐγένετο βέβαιος καί πᾶσα παράβασις καί παρακοή ἔλαβε ἔνδικον μισθαποδοσίαν, πῶς ἡμεῖς ἐκφευξόμεθα τηλικαύτης ἀμελήσαντες σωτηρίας;"

Μή οὖν τόν Ἀδάμ ἀλλ᾿ ἑαυτόν αἰτιάτω καί μεμφέσθω ἡμῶν ἕκαστος, τῶν ἐν οἱᾳδηποτοῦν περιπιπτόντων ἁμαρτίᾳ, καί μετάνοιαν ἐξίαν ἕκαστος ἡμῶν ὡς ἐκεῖνος ἐπιδεικνύσθω, εἰ ἄρα καί βούλεται τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς ἐν Κυρίῳ ἐπιτυχεῖν. Εἰ δέ μή θελήσετε μηδέ παντί τρόπῳ σπουδάσετε, ἤ ἀναμαρτήτους ἑαυτούς ἐν τῷ τάς ἐντολάς τηρεῖν πάσας φυλάξαι, ἤ παραβαίνοντες ἔν τινι μέχρι θανάτου μετανοεῖν καί τήν ἑαυτοῦ ἕκαστος ἁμαρτίαν σφοδρῶς ἀποκλαίεσθαι, ἀλλ᾿ ἐμμένετε ἐπί τῇ σκληρότητι καί ἀμετανοήτῳ γνώμῃ ὑμῶν, τάδε λέγει Κύριος· "Συντρομάξει ἡ γῆ ἐπί τούς μετά τοσαῦτα καί τηλικαῦτα θαύματα, μετά τήν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ φανέρωσιν, μετά τήν τοσαύτην διδασκαλίαν ἥν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐφήπλωσα, ἔτι ἀναβαλλομένους καί δυσπιστοῦντας καί ἀπειθοῦντας τοῖς λόγοις μου· καί διαρραγήσεται εἰς πολλά, μή φέρουσα τούς ἀγνώμονας καί σκληροτραχήλους καί παρηκόους μου φέρειν ἐπί τοῦ νώτου αὐτῆς, καί ἴδωσι τήν πτῶσιν (104) αὐτῶν ἐγγίσασαν πρό τῶν ποδῶν αὐτῶν καί τρομάξουσι. Τῆς γάρ γῆς τρεμούσης, τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κλονουμένου καί ῥοιζηδόν ὡς βιβλίου ἑλισσομένου, ἐκ τῶν φοβερῶν δειμάτων ἐκείνων πτοηθῶσιν αἱ ἀκαμπεῖς καί ἀμείλικτοι καρδίαι αὐτῶν, ὡς λαγωοῦ ἐν ὥρᾳ σφαγῆς. Καί συσκοτάσει τό φῶς, πεσοῦνται τά ἄστρα, ὁ ἥλιος καί ἡ σελήνη σβεσθήσονται ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς, ἀπό δέ τῶν σχισμάτων τῆς γῆς ἀναβήσεται πῦρ ὑπερεκβλύζον ὡς τά πελάγη τῶν θαλασσῶν. Καί ὥσπερ ἐπί τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ ἀνεῴχθησαν οἱ καταρράκται τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καί κατῆλθε τό ὕδωρ καί κατ᾿ ὀλίγον ἐκάλυψε τούς λαούς, οὕτω καί τότε ἀνοιχθήσεται ἀπό τῶν θεμελίων αὐτῆς ἡ γῆ, καί ἀναδοθήσεται οὐ κατά μικρόν ἀλλά ἀθρόον τό πῦρ καί ἐπικαλύψει πᾶσαν τήν γῆν, καί γενήσεται ἅπασα ποταμός πυρός".

Τί οὖν ποιήσουσι τότε οἱ λέγοντες ὅτι· "Εἴθε με ἠφίεσαν ὧδε καί τήν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐγώ οὐκ ἤθελον"; Τί γενήσονται οἱ νῦν γελῶντες καί οὕτω λέγοντες· "Τί οὖν κελεύεις κλαίειν ἡμᾶς καθ᾿ ἑκάστην;" Οἱ δέ καί ἀντιλογίας ἤ γογγυσμούς ἤ καί τά χείρω τούτων ἀπεργαζόμενοι, τί τότε ἀπολογήσονται; Μή ἐροῦσιν ὅτι· "Οὐκ ἠκούσαμεν"; μή ὅτι· "Οὐδείς ἡμᾶς ἐνουθέτησε"; μή ὅτι· "Ἠγνοήσαμέν σου τοῦ ∆εσπότου τό ὄνομα, τό κράτος, τήν ἰσχύν, τήν δύναμιν"; "Πόσα γάρ ὑμᾶς, ὦ ἄθλιοι, εἰκότως πρός ἡμᾶς εἴπῃ, διά προφητῶν, δι᾿ ἀποστόλων, διά πάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν δούλων καί δι᾿ἐμοῦ αὐτοῦ προεῖπον καί παρήγγειλα; Οὐκ ἠκούετε τῶν εὐαγγελίων μου λεγόντων· " Μετανοεῖτε"; (105) Οὐκ ἠκούετε λεγόντων· "Μακάριοι οἱ κλαίοντες νῦν, ὅτι γελάσονται"; Οὐκ ἠκούετε βοῶντός μου· "Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες"; Ὑμεῖς δέ ἐγελᾶτε ἀνακαγχάζοντες, ἀλλήλοις ὁμιλοῦντες καί καταμακρύνοντες ὑμῶν τάς ἀργολογίας, ἀλλήλους πρός τά ἄριστα προσκαλούμενοι καί θεραπεύοντες ὑμῶν τάς γαστέρας. Οὐκ ἐμοῦ λέγοντος· "Τί στενή ἡ πύλη καί τεθλιμμένη ἡ ὁδός ἡ ἀπάγουσα