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Upright also is the Word who is to be glorified, the Word of the Lord, who in the beginning was with God, and was God. Upright therefore is the Father; upright is the Son; upright is the Holy Spirit. And all His works are in faith. What is it that he says? A work is the heaven, a work is the earth, a work is the sea, the air, all inanimate things, the animate, the rational, the irrational. How then are all things in faith? what faith is in inanimate things? what faith is that of the irrational? And what faith is in a stone? and what faith is in a dog? Neither the inanimate nor the irrational is in faith. However, the declaration made no exception, but included all things, saying: All His works are in faith. What then is it that he says? If you see the heaven, he says, and the order in it, it is a guide to faith; for it shows the craftsman through itself; and if you see the adornments around the earth, again through these also your faith in God is increased. For not by perceiving God with fleshly eyes have we believed in Him, but by the power of the mind through the things that are seen we behold the invisible. All His works, therefore, are in faith. Even if you observe a stone, it too holds some proof of the power of its maker; even an ant, even a gnat, even a bee. Often even in the smallest things the wisdom of the Creator is revealed. For He who stretched out the heaven, and poured forth the measureless expanses of the seas, is the one who also hollowed out the very fine sting of the bee like a flute, so that through it the venom might be discharged. All His works, therefore, are in faith. Let nothing be for you a provision for unbelief. Do not say: 'This happened by chance, and that occurred automatically.' Nothing is disordered, nothing is indeterminate, nothing has come to be in vain, nor is anything carried along by chance among the things that exist. Or, 'Bad luck,' or, 'An evil hour.' These are the voices of the uninstructed. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And one of them shall not fall without the divine will. How many are the hairs of the head! Not one of them is forgotten. Do you see the divine eye, how not even the smallest things escape His oversight? The Lord loves mercy and judgment; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord. If the judgment of God existed by itself, rendering to us abruptly according to our deserts for what we have done, what hope would there be? who of all would be saved? But now He loves 29.332 mercy and judgment. Having made mercy, as it were, an assessor for Himself, and having set her before the royal throne of judgment, He thus brings each one to judgment. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? Neither is mercy without judgment, nor judgment without mercy. Before judgment, therefore, He loves mercy, and after mercy He comes to judgment. But these are yoked together, mercy with judgment; so that neither mercy alone may produce laxity, nor judgment alone work despair. The judge wishes to have mercy on you, and to impart His own compassion; but if He finds you humble after sin, contrite, having wept much over your wicked deeds, having unashamedly made public the things done in secret, having asked brethren to labor with you for healing, if He sees you have become altogether pitiable, He bestows His own mercy on you abundantly; but if He finds an unrepentant heart, an arrogant mind, unbelief in the age to come, fearlessness of the judgment, then He loves judgment upon you. For just as a skilled and humane physician first tries to reduce a swelling with lotions and gentle poultices; but when he sees the mass resisting unyieldingly and harshly, casting aside the oil and the gentle treatment, he then chooses the use of the knife. He loves mercy, therefore, upon those who repent; and He loves judgment upon the unyielding. Isaiah says something similar to God, that Your mercy is by measure. For he too presents mercy with judgment, measuring it out by scale and number and weight according to the worth of each. The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord. Here mercy is separated from judgment. For the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord alone, judgment being reserved for the

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εὐθής ἐστι καὶ ὁ μέλλων δοξάζεσθαι Λόγος, ὁ τοῦ Κυρίου, ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Θεὸς ὤν. Εὐθὴς οὖν ὁ Πατήρ· εὐθὴς ὁ Υἱός· εὐθὲς τὸ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα. Καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ ἐν πίστει. Τί ἐστιν ὃ λέγει; Ἔργον ὁ οὐρανὸς, ἔργον ἡ γῆ, ἔργον ἡ θάλασσα, ὁ ἀὴρ, τὰ ἄψυχα πάντα, τὰ ἔμψυχα, τὰ λογικὰ, τὰ ἄλογα. Πῶς οὖν ἐν πίστει πάντα; ποία πίστις ἐν τοῖς ἀψύχοις; ποία πίστις ἡ τῶν ἀλόγων; Ποία δὲ πίστις ἐν τῷ λίθῳ; ποία δὲ πίστις ἐν τῷ κυνί; Οὔτε ἄψυχον, οὔτε ἄλογον ἐν πίστει. Ἡ μέντοι ἀπόφασις οὐδὲν ὑπεξείλετο, ἀλλὰ πάντα περιείληφεν εἰποῦσα· Πάντα τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ ἐν πίστει. Τί οὖν ἐστιν ὃ λέγει; Ἐάν τε οὐ ρανὸν, φησὶν, ἴδῃς, καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ τάξιν, πίστεώς ἐστιν ὁδηγός· δείκνυσι γὰρ τὸν τεχνίτην δι' ἑαυτοῦ· ἐάν τε τὰς περὶ τὴν γῆν διακοσμήσεις, πάλιν καὶ διὰ τούτων αὔξεταί σοι ἡ περὶ τὸν Θεὸν πίστις. Οὐ γὰρ σαρκίνοις ὀφθαλμοῖς καταμαθόντες τὸν Θεὸν, πεπι στεύκαμεν εἰς αὐτὸν, ἀλλὰ τῇ τοῦ νοῦ δυνάμει διὰ τῶν ὁρωμένων τὸν ἀόρατον καθορῶμεν. Πάντα οὖν τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ ἐν πίστει. Κἂν τὸν λίθον καταμάθῃς, ἔχει καὶ αὐτός τινα τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἀπό δειξιν· κἂν μύρμηκα, κἂν ἐμπίδα, κἂν μέλισσαν. Πολλάκις καὶ ἐν τοῖς μικροτάτοις ἡ σοφία τοῦ δη μιουργοῦ διαφαίνεται. Ὁ γὰρ οὐρανὸν διαπλώσας, καὶ τὰ ἄπλετα μεγέθη τῶν πελαγῶν ἀναχέας, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ καὶ τὸ λεπτότατον κέντρον τῆς μελίσσης κοι λάνας ὥσπερ αὐλὸν, ὥστε δι' αὐτοῦ τὸν ἰὸν ἀποχεῖ σθαι. Πάντα οὖν τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ ἐν πίστει. Μηδέν σοι ἀπιστίας ἐφόδιον ἔστω. Μὴ εἴπῃς· Ὡς ἔτυχε, γέγονε τοῦτο, καὶ αὐτομάτως ἀπήντησε τόδε. Οὐδὲν ἄτακτον, οὐδὲν ἀόριστον, οὐδὲν εἰκῆ γενόμενον, οὐδὲ ὡς ἔτυχε φερόμενον ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν. Ἢ, Κακὴ συντυχία, ἢ, Πο νηρὰ ὥρα. Ἀπαιδεύτων αὗται αἱ φωναί. Οὐχὶ δύο στρουθία ἀσσαρίου πωλεῖται; καὶ ἓν ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐ πεσεῖται ἄνευ τοῦ θείου θελήματος. Πόσαι αἱ τρίχες τῆς κεφαλῆς! Μία αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔστιν ἐπιλελη σμένη. Ὁρᾷς τὸν θεῖον ὀφθαλμὸν, ὡς οὐδὲν τῶν μι κροτάτων τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν αὐτοῦ διαφεύγει; Ἀγαπᾷ ἐλεημοσύνην καὶ κρίσιν ὁ Κύριος· τοῦ ἐλέους Κυρίου πλήρης ἡ γῆ. Εἰ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ὑπῆρχεν ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ κρίσις, ἀποτόμως ἡμῖν κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν ἡμῶν ἀποδιδόντος πρὸς ἃ ἐποιήσαμεν, ποία ἦν ἐλπίς; τίς ἂν ἐσώθη τῶν πάντων; Νῦν δὲ Ἀγαπᾷ 29.332 ἐλεημοσύνην καὶ κρίσιν. Οἱονεὶ πάρεδρον ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην ποιησάμενος, καὶ προβληθεῖσαν τῷ βασιλικῷ τῆς κρίσεως θρόνῳ, οὕτω παράγει εἰς κρί σιν ἕκαστον. Ἐὰν ἀνομίας παρατηρήσῃς, Κύριε, Κύριε, τίς ὑποστήσεται; Οὔτε ἡ ἐλεημοσύνη ἄκρι τος, οὔτε ἡ κρίσις ἀνελεήμων. Πρὸ τῆς κρίσεως οὖν ἀγαπᾷ ἐλεημοσύνην, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην ἔρχεται ἐπὶ τὴν κρίσιν. Ταῦτα δὲ ἀλλήλοις συν έζευκται, ὁ ἔλεος μετὰ τῆς κρίσεως· ἵνα μήτε ὁ ἔλεος μόνος χαυνότητα ἐμποιήσῃ, μήτε μόνη ἡ κρίσις ἀπόγνωσιν ἐνεργάσηται. Βούλεταί σε ἐλεῆσαι, καὶ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ οἰκτιρμῶν μεταδοῦναι ὁ κριτής· ἀλλ' ἐὰν εὕρῃ σε μετὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ταπεινὸν, συντετριμ μένον, πολλὰ μετακλαύσαντα ἐπὶ τοῖς πονηροῖς ἔργοις, τὰ γενόμενα κρυφῆ ἀνεπαισχύντως δημοσιεύσαντα, δεηθέντα ἀδελφῶν συγκαμεῖν σοι πρὸς τὴν ἴασιν, ὅλως ἐλεεινόν σε γενόμενον ἐὰν ἴδῃ, ἄφθονόν σοι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐλεημοσύνην ἐπιχορηγεῖ· ἐὰν δὲ καρδίαν ἀμετανόητον, φρόνημα ὑπερήφανον, ἀπιστίαν τοῦ αἰῶνος τοῦ μέλλοντος, ἀφοβίαν τῆς κρίσεως, τότε ἀγαπᾷ ἐπὶ σοὶ τὴν κρίσιν. Ὡς γὰρ ἰατρὸς ἐμμελὴς καὶ φιλάνθρωπος καταντλήμασι πρότερον καὶ πε ριπλάσμασιν ἁπαλοῖς πειρᾶται καταστεῖλαι τὸ οἴδη μα· ἐπὰν δὲ ἴδῃ ἀνενδότως καὶ σκληρῶς ἀντιτυ ποῦντα τὸν ὄγκον, ῥίψας τὸ ἔλαιον καὶ τὴν μαλακὴν ἀγωγὴν, αἱρεῖται λοιπὸν τὴν τοῦ σιδήρου χρῆσιν. Ἀγαπᾷ οὖν ἐλεημοσύνην ἐπὶ τῶν μετανοούντων· ἀγαπᾷ δὲ καὶ κρίσιν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνενδότων. Τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ὁ Ἡσαΐας λέγει τῷ Θεῷ, ὅτι Ἡ ἐλεημοσύνη σου εἰς σταθμόν. Καὶ γὰρ κἀκεῖνος τὴν μετὰ κρίσεως ἐλεημοσύνην παρίστησι, ζυγῷ καὶ ἀριθμῷ καὶ σταθμῷ κατὰ τὴν ἑκάστου ἀξίαν ἀντιμετροῦν τος. Τοῦ ἐλέους Κυρίου πλήρης ἡ γῆ. Ἐνταῦθα διέζευκται ἀπὸ τῆς κρίσεως ὁ ἔλεος. Μόνου γὰρ τοῦ ἐλέους Κυρίου πλήρης ἡ γῆ, τῆς κρίσεως εἰς τὸν