40

2. When therefore these things happen, then also will be the voice of the archangel commanding and shouting to the angels, and the trumpets, or rather the sound of the trumpets. What trembling then will seize, what fear those remaining upon the earth? For one is caught up, and one is left behind; and one is taken, and one is left. What will be the state of their soul, when they see some being taken up, but themselves being left behind? Will not these things be able to shake them more terribly than any Gehenna? Let us suppose, therefore, that this is already present in our discourse. For if sudden death, or earthquakes of cities, and threats so affect our souls; when we see the earth being torn open and filled with all those things, when we hear the trumpets, when we hear the voice of the archangel, being brighter than any trumpet, when we see the heaven being drawn up with it, when we see God Himself, the king of all, arriving, what then will be the state of our soul? Let us shudder, I beseech you, and be afraid, as if these things were already happening; let us not console ourselves with the delay; for when it must certainly happen, the delay profits nothing. How great the trembling? How great the fear then? Have you ever seen those being led away to death? what do you think their soul is like, as they walk the road to the gate? is it not worse than many deaths? what would they not choose both to do and to suffer, so as to be delivered from that mist, that cloud? I have heard many say, of those who by royal clemency were called back after being led away, that they did not even see people as people, with their soul being troubled and astonished and beside itself. If, therefore, bodily death so frightens us, when eternal death arrives, what shall we suffer? And why do I speak of those being led away? A crowd stands around then, the majority not even knowing them. If anyone had observed their souls, there is no one so cruel, no one so bold, no one so noble, who does not find it fallen, undone by fear and despair. But if, when others are suffering this death, which differs in nothing from sleep, those who have no share in it are so affected; when we ourselves fall into greater things, what then will be our condition? It is not possible, it is not possible, believe me, to describe the suffering in words. Yes, one says; but God is merciful, and none of these things will happen. Therefore it has been written in vain. No, he says, but only as a threat, that we may become sober. If, therefore, we do not become sober, but remain evil, will He not bring on the punishment, tell me? Then will He not also give the rewards to the good? Yes, he says; for that is fitting for Him, even to do good beyond what is deserved. So those things are true and will certainly happen; but the things concerning punishments not certainly, but for the sake of threat and fear? How I am to persuade you, I do not know. If I say that their worm will not die, 62.442 and the fire will not be quenched, if I say that they will go away into eternal fire, if I bring forward the rich man already being punished, you will say all these things are a threat. How then shall I persuade you? For this reasoning is Satanic, granting a profitless favor, and making people lazy. How then shall we remove it? Whatever we say from the Scriptures, you will say is for the sake of a threat. But one might say this about things to come; but concerning things that have come to pass and reached their end, no longer. You have all heard about the flood; were those things also spoken for the sake of a threat? Did it not both come to pass and happen? They too said many such things; and during the hundred years the ark was being built, and the timbers being woven, and the righteous man crying out, there was no one who believed. But since they did not believe the threat through words, they suffered the punishment through deeds. We too shall suffer this, if we do not believe. For this very reason also He compares His coming to the days of Noah; because just as some disbelieved that flood, so also will some disbelieve the flood of Gehenna. Were those things a threat

40

βʹ. Ὅταν οὖν ταῦτα γένηται, τότε καὶ ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου ἔσται τοῖς ἀγγέλοις ἐπιτάττοντος καὶ βοῶντος, καὶ αἱ σάλπιγγες, μᾶλλον δὲ ὁ τῶν σαλπίγγων ἦχος. Ποῖος ἄρα τρόμος ἕξει, ποῖος φόβος τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀπομένοντας; Μία γὰρ ἁρπάζεται, καὶ μία καταλιμπάνεται· καὶ εἷς παραλαμβάνεται, καὶ εἷς ἀφίεται. Τίς ἔσται ἡ ψυχὴ ἐκείνων, ὅταν τοὺς μὲν αἰρομένους ὁρῶσιν, ἑαυτοὺς δὲ ἀφιεμένους; ἆρα οὐ πάσης γεέννης φοβερώτερον αὐτοὺς ταῦτα διασαλεῦσαι δυνήσεται; Ὑποθώμεθα τοίνυν ἤδη τοῦτο παρεῖναι τῷ λόγῳ. Εἰ γὰρ θάνατος αἰφνίδιος, ἢ πόλεων σεισμοὶ, καὶ ἀπειλαὶ οὕτω ποιοῦσι τὰς ἡμετέρας ψυχάς· ὅταν τὴν γῆν ἀναῤῥηγνυμένην ἴδωμεν καὶ πεπληρωμένην πάντων ἐκείνων, ὅταν τῶν σαλπίγγων ἀκούσωμεν, ὅταν τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλου πάσης σάλπιγγος λαμπροτέρας οὔσης, ὅταν τὸν οὐρανὸν συνανελκόμενον, ὅταν αὐτὸν παραγινόμενον τὸν ἁπάντων βασιλέα τὸν Θεὸν, τίς ἄρα ἡμῖν ἔσται ἡ ψυχή; Φρίξωμεν, παρακαλῶ, καὶ φοβηθῶμεν, ὡς ἤδη τούτων γινομένων· μὴ τῇ μελλήσει παραμυθώμεθα ἑαυτούς· ὅταν γὰρ πάντως δέῃ γενέσθαι, οὐδὲν ἡ μέλλησις ὠφελεῖ. Πόσος ὁ τρόμος; πόσος ὁ φόβος τότε; Εἴδετέ ποτε τοὺς ἀπαγομένους τὴν ἐπὶ θάνατον; ποίαν νομίζετε αὐτοῖς εἶναι τὴν ψυχὴν, τὴν μέχρι τῆς πύλης ὁδὸν βαδίζουσι; πόσων θανάτων οὐ χείρονα; τί οὐκ ἂν ἕλοιντο καὶ πρᾶξαι καὶ παθεῖν, ὥστε ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς ἀχλύος ἐκείνης τοῦ νέφους; Ἐγὼ πολλῶν ἤκουσα λεγόντων τῶν φιλανθρωπίᾳ βασιλικῇ μετὰ τὴν ἀπαγωγὴν εἰς τοὐπίσω κληθέντων, ὅτι οὐδὲ ἀνθρώπους ἑώρων τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, τεθορυβημένης τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ ἐκπεπληγμένης καὶ ἐξεστηκυίας. Εἰ τοίνυν σωματικὸς θάνατος οὕτως ἡμᾶς φοβεῖ, ὅταν αἰώνιος παραγένηται, τί πεισόμεθα; Καὶ τί λέγω περὶ τῶν ἀπαγομένων; ὄχλος περιέστηκε τότε, οἱ πλείους οὐδὲ εἰδότες αὐτούς. Εἴ τις ἐκείνων τὰς ψυχὰς περιεσκόπησεν, οὐδεὶς οὕτως ὠμὸς, οὐδεὶς οὕτω θρασὺς, οὐδεὶς οὕτω γενναῖος, ὃς οὐ καταπεπτωκυῖαν αὐτὴν ἔχει, παρειμένην ὑπὸ τοῦ φόβου καὶ τῆς ἀθυμίας. Εἰ δὲ ἑτέρων ἀναιρουμένων τὸν θάνατον τοῦτον, τὸν ὕπνου οὐδὲν διαφέροντα, οἱ μηδὲν κοινωνοῦντες οὕτω διατίθενται· ὅταν ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ τοῖς μείζοσι περιπίπτωμεν, τίς ἄρα ἔσται κατάστασις; Οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἔστι, πιστεύσατε, παραστῆσαι λόγῳ τὸ πάθος. Ναὶ, φησίν· ἀλλὰ φιλάνθρωπος ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ οὐδὲν τούτων ἔσται. Οὐκοῦν εἰκῆ γέγραπται. Οὒ, φησὶν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἀπειλὴν μόνον, ἵνα σωφρονῶμεν. Ἐὰν οὖν μὴ σωφρονῶμεν, ἀλλὰ μένωμεν κακοὶ, οὐκ ἐπάξει τὴν κόλασιν, εἰπέ μοι; οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἀποδώσει τὰς ἀμοιβάς; Ναὶ, φησίν· ἐκεῖνο γὰρ αὐτῷ πρέπον ἐστὶ καὶ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀξίαν εὐεργετεῖν. Ὥστε ἐκεῖνα μὲν ἀληθῆ καὶ πάντως ἔσται· τὰ δὲ τῶν κολάσεων οὐ πάντως, ἀλλ' ἀπειλῆς ἕνεκεν καὶ φόβου; Πόθεν ὑμᾶς πείσω, οὐκ οἶδα. Ἂν εἴπω ὅτι ὁ σκώληξ αὐτῶν οὐ τελευτήσει, 62.442 καὶ τὸ πῦρ οὐ σβεσθήσεται, ἐὰν εἴπω ὅτι ἀπελεύσονται εἰς πῦρ αἰώνιον, ἂν τὸν πλούσιον παραγάγω ἤδη κολαζόμενον, πάντα ἀπειλῆς εἶναι ἐρεῖτε. Πόθεν οὖν ὑμᾶς πείσω; Σατανικὸς γὰρ οὗτος ὁ λογισμὸς, χάριν ἀνόνητον χαριζόμενος, καὶ ῥᾳθύμους ποιῶν. Πῶς οὖν αὐτὸν ἐξέλωμεν; Ὅσα ἂν εἴπωμεν ἀπὸ τῶν Γραφῶν, ἐρεῖτε ὅτι ἀπειλῆς ἕνεκεν. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν περὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἔχοι τις ἂν εἰπεῖν· περὶ δὲ τῶν ἐκβεβηκότων καὶ τέλος ἐσχηκότων, οὐκέτι. Ἠκούσατε πάντες περὶ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ· μὴ καὶ ἐκεῖνα ἀπειλῆς ἕνεκεν εἴρηται; οὐχὶ καὶ ἐξέβη καὶ γέγονε; Τοιαῦτα καὶ ἐκεῖνοι πολλὰ ἔλεγον· καὶ ἐν ἑκατὸν ἔτεσι τῆς κιβωτοῦ τεκταινομένης, καὶ τῶν ξύλων ὑφαινομένων, καὶ τοῦ δικαίου βοῶντος, οὐδεὶς ὁ πιστεύων ἦν. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἐπίστευσαν τῇ διὰ τῶν ῥημάτων ἀπειλῇ, ὑπέστησαν τὴν διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων τιμωρίαν. Τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς πεισόμεθα, ἂν μὴ πιστεύσωμεν. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο καὶ τὴν παρουσίαν αὐτοῦ ταῖς ἡμέραις παραβάλλει τοῦ Νῶε· ἐπειδὴ καθάπερ ἐκείνῳ τῷ κατακλυσμῷ ἠπίστησάν τινες, οὕτω καὶ τῷ κατακλυσμῷ τῆς γεέννης. Μὴ ἀπειλὴ ἐκεῖνά