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the souls of the men placed under him will be continually disposed, I mean of the weaker and more critical ones. Therefore the priest must do everything to acquire this strength.

4.6 ʹ. That this was pre-eminently achieved by the blessed Paul. And Basil: Why then, he says, did Paul not endeavor to achieve this virtue for himself, nor is he ashamed of his poverty in speech, but even openly confesses himself to be unskilled, and this when writing to the Corinthians, who were admired for their speaking and prided themselves greatly on this? {ΙΩ.} For this, I said, this is what has destroyed many and made them more careless concerning true teaching; for being unable to examine accurately the depth of the apostolic mind, nor to understand the meaning of his words, they have spent all their time dozing and yawning and honoring this ignorance, not the one in which Paul says he is ignorant, but from which he was as far removed as no other of the men under this heaven. But let this argument await its proper time for us; for the time being I say this: Let us grant that he was unskilled in this respect, as these men wish, what then is this to the men of today? For he had a power far greater than that of speech, and able to accomplish more; for just by appearing and keeping silent, he was fearsome to demons. But all the men of today, gathered together with countless prayers and tears, could not achieve as much as Paul's handkerchiefs once did. And Paul, by praying, raised the dead and performed other such wonders so as to be thought a god by outsiders; and before he departed from this life, he was deemed worthy to be caught up to the third heaven and to share in words which it is not lawful for human nature to hear. But those who live now—but I cannot say anything harsh or severe; for I say these things not to attack them, but in admiration—how do they not shudder at comparing themselves to so great a man? For if, leaving aside the miracles, we should come to the life of the blessed one and examine his angelic conduct, you will see the athlete of Christ victorious in this even more than in his signs. For what could one say of his zeal, his gentleness, his continual dangers, his successive cares, his unceasing anxieties for the Churches, his sympathy for the weak, his many tribulations, his novel persecutions, his daily deaths? For what place in the inhabited world, what continent, what sea, has not known the labors of the just man? Even the uninhabited world knew him, having received him often in peril; for he endured every form of plot and achieved every manner of victory, and he never ceased either struggling or being crowned. But I do not know how I was led to do injustice to the man; for his achievements all surpass speech, and ours by as much as those skilled in speaking surpass us; nevertheless, even so—for the blessed one will not judge us by the result, but by our intention—I will not desist until I say this, which is as much greater than the things I have said as he is than all men. What then is this? After so many achievements, after the countless crowns, he prayed to go to Gehenna and be handed over to eternal punishment for the sake of the Jews who had often stoned him and killed him, as far as it was in their power, that they might be saved and come to Christ. Who has so longed for Christ, if indeed one must call it longing and not something more than longing? Shall we then still compare ourselves to him, after such great grace which he received from above, after such great virtue which he showed from within himself? And what could be more audacious than this? But that he was not unskilled, as these men suppose, this too I will next try to demonstrate. For these men not only the one not practiced in

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διηνεκῶς αἱ ψυχαὶ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτῷ τεταγμένων ἀνδρῶν διακείσονται, τῶν ἀσθενεστέρων καὶ περιεργοτέρων λέγω. ∆ιὸ χρὴ τὸν ἱερέα πάντα ποιεῖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ταύτην κτήσασθαι τὴν ἰσχύν.

4.6 ʹ. Ὅτι τῷ μακαρίῳ Παύλῳ μάλιστα τοῦτο κατώρθωτο Καὶ ὁ Βασίλειος· Τί οὖν ὁ Παῦλος, φησίν, οὐκ ἐσπούδασε ταύτην οἷ κατορθωθῆναι τὴν ἀρετήν, οὐδὲ ἐγκαλύπτεται ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ λόγου πενίᾳ, ἀλλὰ καὶ διαρρήδην ὁμολογεῖ ἰδιώτην ἑαυτὸν εἶναι, καὶ ταῦτα Κορινθίοις ἐπιστέλλων, τοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ λέγειν θαυμαζομένοις καὶ μέγα ἐπὶ τοῦτο φρονοῦσι; {ΙΩ.} Τοῦτο γάρ, ἔφην, τοῦτό ἐστιν ὃ τοὺς πολλοὺς ἀπώλεσε καὶ ῥαθυμοτέρους περὶ τὴν ἀληθῆ διδασκαλίαν ἐποίησε· μὴ γὰρ δυνηθέντες ἀκριβῶς ἐξετάσαι τῶν ἀποστολικῶν φρενῶν τὸ βάθος, μηδὲ συνιέναι τὴν τῶν ῥημάτων διάνοιαν, διετέλεσαν τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον νυστάζοντες καὶ χασμώμενοι καὶ τὴν ἀμαθίαν τιμῶντες ταύτην, οὐχ ἣν ὁ Παῦλός φησιν εἶναι ἀμαθής, ἀλλ' ἧς τοσοῦτον ἀπεῖχεν ὅσον οὐδὲ ἄλλος τις τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν τοῦτον ἀνθρώπων. Ἀλλ' οὗτος μὲν ἡμᾶς εἰς καιρὸν ὁ λόγος μενέτω· τέως δὲ ἐκεῖνό φημι· Θῶμεν αὐτὸν εἶναι ἰδιώτην τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ὅπερ οὗτοι βούλονται, τί οὖν τοῦτο πρὸς τοὺς ἄνδρας τοὺς νῦν; Ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ εἶχεν ἰσχὺν πολλῷ τοῦ λόγου μείζονα καὶ πλείονα δυναμένην κατορθοῦν· φαινόμενος γὰρ μόνον καὶ σιγῶν, τοῖς δαίμοσιν ἦν φοβερός. Οἱ δὲ νῦν πάντες ὁμοῦ συνελθόντες μετὰ μυρίων εὐχῶν καὶ δακρύων οὐκ ἂν δυνηθεῖεν ὅσα ἴσχυσε τὰ σημικίνθια Παύλου ποτέ. Καὶ Παῦλος μὲν εὐχόμενος νεκροὺς ἀνίστη καὶ ἄλλα ἐθαυματούργει τοιαῦτα ὡς καὶ θεὸς νομισθῆναι παρὰ τοῖς ἔξωθεν· καὶ πρὶν ἢ τοῦ βίου μεταστῆναι τούτου, κατηξιώθη ἁρπαγῆναι ἕως τρίτου οὐρανοῦ καὶ ῥημάτων μετασχεῖν ὧν οὐ θέμις ἀνθρωπείαν ἀκοῦσαι φύσιν. Οἱ δὲ νῦν ὄντες -ἀλλ' οὐδὲν δύναμαι δυσχερὲς εἰπεῖν οὐδὲ βαρύ· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐπεμβαίνων αὐτοῖς λέγω νῦν, ἀλλὰ θαυμάζων-, πῶς οὐ φρίττουσιν ἀνδρὶ τηλικούτῳ παραβάλλοντες ἑαυτούς; Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὰ θαύματα ἀφέντες, ἐπὶ τὸν βίον ἔλθοιμεν τοῦ μακαρίου καὶ τὴν πολιτείαν ἐξετάσαιμεν αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀγγελικὴν καὶ ἐν ταύτῃ μᾶλλον ἢ ἐν τοῖς σημείοις, ὄψει νικῶντα τὸν ἀθλητὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Τί γὰρ ἄν τις εἴποι τὸν ζῆλον, τὴν ἐπιείκειαν, τοὺς συνεχεῖς κινδύνους, τὰς ἐπαλλήλους φροντίδας, τὰς ἀδιαλείπτους ὑπὲρ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν ἀθυμίας, τὸ πρὸς τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς συμπαθές, τὰς πολλὰς θλίψεις, τοὺς καινοτέρους διωγμούς, τοὺς καθημερινοὺς θανάτους; τίς γὰρ τόπος τῆς οἰκουμένης, ποία ἤπειρος, ποία θάλαττα τοῦ δικαίου τοὺς ἄθλους ἠγνόησεν; Ἐκεῖνον καὶ ἡ ἀοίκητος ἔγνω, κινδυνεύοντα δεξαμένη πολλάκις· πᾶν γὰρ εἶδος ὑπέμεινεν ἐπιβουλῆς καὶ πάντα τρόπον ἐπῆλθε νίκης καὶ οὔτε ἀγωνιζόμενος οὔτε στεφανούμενος διέλιπέ ποτε. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐκ οἶδα πῶς προήχθην ὑβρίζειν τὸν ἄνδρα· τὰ γὰρ κατορθώματα αὐτοῦ πάντα μὲν ὑπερβαίνει λόγον, τὸν δὲ ἡμέτερον, τοσοῦτον ὅσον καὶ ἡμᾶς οἱ λέγειν εἰδότες· πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ οὕτως-οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκβάσεως, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς προαιρέσεως ἡμᾶς ὁ μακάριος κρινεῖ-οὐκ ἀποστήσομαι, ἕως ἂν εἴπω τοῦτο ὃ τοσοῦτο τῶν εἰρημένων κρεῖττόν ἐστιν ὅσον ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων ἐκεῖνος. Τί οὖν τοῦτό ἐστιν; Μετὰ τοσαῦτα κατορθώματα, μετὰ τοὺς μυρίους στεφάνους, ηὔξατο εἰς γέενναν ἀπελθεῖν καὶ αἰωνίῳ παραδοθῆναι κολάσει ὑπὲρ τοῦ τοὺς πολλάκις αὐτὸν καὶ λιθάσαντας καὶ ἀνελόντας, τό γε αὐτῶν μέρος, Ἰουδαίους σωθῆναι καὶ τῷ Χριστῷ προσελθεῖν. Τίς οὕτως ἐπόθησε τὸν Χριστόν, εἴγε πόθον αὐτὸν δεῖ καλεῖν, ἀλλ' οὐχ ἕτερόν τι τοῦ πόθου πλέον; Ἔτι οὖν ἑαυτοὺς ἐκείνῳ παραβαλοῦμεν, μετὰ τὴν τοσαύτην χάριν ἣν ἔλαβεν ἄνωθεν, μετὰ τὴν τοσαύτην ἀρετὴν ἣν οἴκοθεν ἐπεδείξατο; καὶ τί τούτου γένοιτ' ἂν τολμηρότερον; Ὅτι δὲ οὐδὲ οὗτος ἦν ἰδιώτης, ὡς οὗτοι νομίζουσι, καὶ τοῦτο λοιπὸν ἀποδεῖξαι πειράσομαι. Οὗτοι μὲν γὰρ οὐ μόνον τὸν οὐκ ἠσκημένον τὴν