43

only, but unless unashamedly, or rather in exultation of heart and joy, those believing in Christ will pass through the labors and temptations for virtue's sake, and especially infants who have been baptized and are not conscious of having "the free gift of the grace of God".

You then, who have read these things, not in the conceit of so-called knowledge (102) and the refashioning of vain thoughts, but in fear and trembling examine yourself; and if you wish to learn your state of life and condition, ask your soul and say to it: "Soul, have you kept all the commandments of God, or not?" And opening the mouth of its conscience, it will surely tell you the truth; for it will not be ashamed before you, but will convict you and what you have put away before and what you have in yourself, whether good or evil, it will show you. For in its conscience you will find, whether you loved the world, or preferred God to it, whether you sought the glory of men, or desired only that which is given by God; by looking closely into yourself as into a chest and feeling what lies within, bringing out one by one the things stored there, you will know all things clearly. For suppose, for my sake, that there is first stored up a love of honor and vainglory, a form of pleasing men, the sweetening of praises from men, the garment of hypocrisy, a hidden seed of love for money, and simply many things lying within it and one thing concealed by another, and on top of all these let there be lying puffing up—for knowledge, it says, puffs up—along with this, conceit and the puffed-up thought of seeming to be something while being nothing. Therefore, with these things lying upon all the others which we have mentioned before, how will you be able, tell me, to see these things? You will surely say: in no way.

Tell me then now also this. If you are not persuaded that some such veil lies upon your heart, but disbelieve, just as the Hebrews also disbelieve this very thing when Paul says it to them, and if you do not remove this veil from your heart, so that you may see the passions concealed by it and pity your wretched (103) soul and hasten to cleanse it and wash its spiritual eyes and face with hot tears, having cast away behind you all external wisdom and knowledge, obeying Paul, so that you may become a fool in this world, in order that you may become wise in Christ, how, tell me, when you are a fool, shall I recount to you the things concerning God and divine matters, since they are hidden and invisible? Will you not yourself condemn me as doing an unworthy thing and rightly say to yourself: "This man," he says, "is truly foolish, who recounts to me, a fool, things concerning what is invisible and incomprehensible to every breath under heaven and to all creation that is above the heavens"? For if not even the angels of God know the things that are then to come, just as they did not know of what sort or kind His presence on earth would be, or when or at what time He was to come down and become man, how much more must they be ignorant of His final glorious presence, when it will be and how great, or what things He will then bestow on His saints? And that these things are truly so, Paul has declared, saying: "that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers," and the Lord concerning His presence, that "and the powers of the heavens will be shaken," that is, they will be astonished and marvel, suddenly seeing what they had certainly not seen until then. If therefore the powers of the heavens are ignorant, how do you dare at all to say that the saints will not know one another in the kingdom of God, when they are in the vision of Him? But you, who in turn oppose this, and declare: "Indeed they must see and know one another," where have you learned this?

43

μόνον, ἀλλ᾿ ἐάν μή ἀνεπαισχύντως, μᾶλλον δέ ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει καρδίας καί χαρᾷ, τούς ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς πόνους ὁμοῦ καί πειρασμούς διελεύσονται οἱ πιστεύοντες εἰς Χριστόν καί μάλιστα οἱ νήπιοι βαπτισθέντες καί μή ἐπαισθανόμενοι ἔχειν "τήν τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Θεοῦ δωρεάν".

Σύ οὖν, ὁ ταῦτα ἀναγνούς, μή ἐν οἰήσει τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως (102) καί ἀναπλάσει λογισμῶν ματαίων, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν φόβῳ καί τρόμῳ σεαυτόν ἀνάκρινον· καί εἰ βούλει μαθεῖν ὅπως ἔχεις βίου καί καταστάσεως, ἐρώτησόν σου τήν ψυχήν καί εἰπέ αὐτῇ· "Ψυχή, ἐφύλαξας τάς ἐντολάς τοῦ Θεοῦ πάσας ἤ οὔ;" Καί ἀνοίξασα τό τοῦ συνειδότος αὐτῆς στόμα, ἐρεῖ σοι πάντως τό ἀληθές· οὐ γάρ αἰδεσθήσεταί σε, ἀλλ᾿ ἐλέγξει σε καί ἅ προαπέθου καί ἔχεις ἐν ἑαυτῷ, εἴτε ἀγαθά, εἴτε φαῦλα, ὑποδείξει σοι. Ἐν γάρ τῷ συνειδότι αὐτῆς εὑρήσεις, εἴτε τόν κόσμον ἠγάπησας, εἴτε τούτου προετίμησας τόν Θεόν, εἴτε τήν τῶν ἀνθρώπων δόξαν ἐζήτησας, εἴτε τήν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ διδομένην μόνον ἐπόθησας· ἐν ἑαυτῷ παρακύψας ὡς ἐν κιβωτίῳ καί τό ὑποκείμενον ἀναψηλαφῶν, ἕν ἕν τῶν ἀποκειμένων ἐκβάλλων, πάντα γνωρίσεις τρανῶς. Ὑπόθου μοι γάρ ἐν πρώτοις ἐναποκεῖσθαι φιλοδοξίας καί κενοδοξίας ἔρωτα, εἶδος ἀνθρωπαρέσκειας, ἡδύσματα τῶν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἐπαίνων, ὑποκρίσεως ἔνδυμα, σπέρμα φιλαργυρίας ἐγκεκρυμμένον, καί ἁπλῶς πολλά ἐγκείμενα ἐν αὐτῷ καί ἕτερον ὑφ᾿ ἑτέρου συγκαλυπτόμενον, ἐπάνω δέ τούτων ἁπάντων ἔστω ἀνακειμένη φυσίωσις ἡ γάρ γνῶσις, φησί, φυσιοῖ , σύν ταύτῃ οἴησις καί τό δοκεῖν εἶναί τι μηδέν ὄντα τόν πεφυσιωμένον τόν λογισμόν. Τούτων τοιγαροῦν ἐπικειμένων τοῖς ἄλλοις οἷσπερ προείπομεν ἅπασι, πῶς ἰσχύσεις, εἰπέ μοι, ταῦτα θεάσασθαι; Πάντως ἐρεῖς· οὐδαμῶς.

Λέγε μοι οὖν ἄρτι καί τοῦτο. Μή πειθομένου σου ὅτι κάλυμμά τι τῶν τοιούτων ἐπίκειται τῇ καρδίᾳ σου, ἀλλ᾿ ἀπιστοῦντος, καθά δή καί Ἑβραῖοι, τοῦτο αὐτό τοῦ Παύλου λέγοντος πρός αὐτούς, ἀπιστοῦσι, καί μή περιαιροῦντός σου τό κάλυμμα τοῦτο ἐκ τῆς καρδίας σου, ἵνα καί τά ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ καλυπτόμενα πάθη ἴδῃς καί τήν ταλαίπωρόν σου (103) ψυχήν οἰκτειρήσῃς καί σπεύσῃς αὐτήν ἐκκαθᾶραι καί τούς νοερούς αὐτῆς ὀφθαλμούς καί τό πρόσωπον δάκρυσι θερμοῖς ἀπονίψῃς, πᾶσαν ἀπορριψάμενος ὄπισθεν σοφίαν καί γνῶσιν τήν ἔξωθεν, Παύλῳ πειθόμενος, ὡς ἄν γένῃ μωρός ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ, ἵνα γένῃ φρόνιμος ἐν Χριστῷ, πῶς, εἰπέ, μωροῦ ὄντος σου, τά περί Θεοῦ σοι καί τῶν θείων ἐκδιηγήσομαι, ἀποκεκρυμμένων ὄντων καί ἀοράτων αὐτῶν; Οὐκ αὐτός σύ καταγνώσεις μου ὡς ἀνάξιον πρᾶγμα ποιοῦντος καί ἐν σεαυτῷ δικαίως ἐρεῖς· "Οὗτος, φησίν, ὄντως ἄφρων ἐστίν, ὁ ἐμοί τῷ ἄφρονι τά περί τῶν ἀοράτων και ἀκαταλήπτων πάσῃ πνοῇ τῇ ὑπό τόν οὐρανόν καί πάσῃ κτίσει τῇ ὑπεράνω οὔσῃ τῶν οὐρανῶν διηγούμενος"; Εἰ γάρ τά τότε μέλλοντα γενέσθαι οὐδέ οἱ ἄγγελοι ἐπίστανται τοῦ Θεοῦ, καθώς οὐδέ τήν ἐπί γῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν ὁποία ἤ ποταπή, ἤ πότε ἤ ὅτε κατελθεῖν ἔμελλε καί ἄνθρωπος γενέσθαι ἐγίνωσκον, πόσῳ μᾶλλον τήν μετά δόξης αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν ἔσχατον ἀγνοεῖν ὀφείλουσιν, ὁπότε γενήσεται καί ὁπόση, ἤ τίνα ἅπερ τότε τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ μέλλει χαρίζεσθαι; Καί ὅτι ταῦτα οὕτως ἔχει ἐπί τῆς ἀληθείας, ὁ μέν Παῦλος ἐδήλωσεν εἰπών· "Ἵνα γνωρισθῇ νῦν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς καί ταῖς ἐξουσίαις διά τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἡ πολυποίκιλος σοφία τοῦ Θεοῦ", ὁ δέ Κύριος περί τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ ὅτι "καί αἱ δυνάμεις τῶν οὐρανῶν σαλευθήσονται", ἀντί τοῦ ἐκπλαγήσονται καί θαυμάσουσιν, αἴφνης θεώμεναι ἅπερ μέχρι τότε πάντως οὐκ εἶδον. Εἰ τοίνυν αἱ δυνάμεις ἀγνοοῦσι τῶν οὐρανῶν, σύ, πῶς ὅλως ἀποτολμᾶς καί λέγεις ὅτι οὐ μή γνωρίζουσιν ἀλλήλους οἱ ἅγιοι ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁπόταν ἐν τῇ θεωρίᾳ τούτου γενήσονται; Ὁ δέ γε τούτῳ πάλιν ἀντιπίπτων, σύ, καί φάσκων· "Ὄντως ὁρᾶν καί γνωρίζειν ἀλλήλους ὀφείλουσι", πόθεν τοῦτο μεμάθηκας;