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are good and make those who partake of them to be such. For whatever the nature of the thing partaken of, it is necessary for the one partaking to be transformed along with it. For example, the mouth becomes fragrant of one who has taken some of the fragrant spices through the mouth, and again, foul-smelling of one who has eaten garlic or something else of the more foul-smelling things. Therefore, since every filth of sin is foul-smelling, and on the contrary, virtue is the fragrance of Christ, and a loving relationship naturally effects a mingling with the beloved; whatever then 5.423 we choose through friendship, that we become, either the fragrance of Christ or a foul smell. For he who loves the good will himself also be good, as the goodness of that which has come to be in him transforms to itself the one who has received it. For this reason He who always is sets Himself forth as food for us, so that by taking Him into ourselves we might become what He is; for He says, that My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. He therefore who loves this flesh will not be a lover of the flesh, and he who is disposed toward this blood will be pure from sensible blood. For the flesh of the Word and the blood contained in this flesh do not have just one grace, but become sweet to those who taste, and desirable to those who desire, and lovely to those who love. But if someone should turn their affection toward things that do not subsist, since such is their nature, it is altogether necessary that the one who is in them becomes such as well. Since, therefore, among existing things one is true, and another is vain, it is fitting to know the vain, so that by contrast we may understand the nature of things that truly are. For thus do all the saints, who bring back those who have strayed from the straight path and are travelling on the erring path, to the path from which they turned aside, crying out from afar, that Flee the path on which you are travelling; 5.424 for along it are robbers and thieves and ambushes of murderers, so that the traveller, learning the danger, might turn from the destructive path; and withdrawal from that one becomes a guide to the one that saves. Thus also the great Preacher cries from above to human nature which wanders in a pathless place and not a way, as the prophet says, these things directly, through which he speaks, saying: Why do you wander through life, O men? Why do you love vain things and cherish unsubstantial things and cleave by disposition to these, which have no substance? There is another way, unerring and saving. Love that one, travel on that one through love, whose name is truth and life and light and incorruptibility and such things. But this path, on which you now run, is worthy of hatred and aversion; for it is without light and pervaded by darkness, and it leads to cliffs and abysses and beastly places and robbers’ ambushes. He, therefore, who said that *A time to love* pointed out what is truly to be loved and beloved, and he who ascribed a time to hatred taught what things one must have an aversion to. Therefore, having learned what is by nature beloved, let us embrace it through love, nowhere 5.425 being turned aside by a lack of judgment concerning the good, having spent our affection on those things which the great David also forbids, saying: O sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? Why do you love vanity and seek falsehood? For one thing alone is by nature beloved, that which truly is, concerning which the legislation of the Decalogue also says, that You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind; and again, one thing is in truth to be hated, the inventor of wickedness, the enemy of our life, concerning whom the law says, that You shall hate your enemy. For the love of God becomes the strength of the one who loves, but a disposition toward wickedness brings destruction to the one who loves evil. For thus says the prophecy: I will love you, O Lord my strength; the Lord is my rock and my refuge and my deliverer, but concerning the contrary it says: But he who loves iniquity hates his own soul, he will rain a snare upon sinners. Therefore, the whole of life is a time for affection toward God and the whole of one's lifetime for alienation from the adversary. But he who for a short time of his own life comes to be outside of loving God, is altogether outside, of whom the 5.426

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καλὰ καὶ τοὺς μετέχοντας τοιούτους ποιεῖ. οἷον γὰρ ἂν ᾖ τῇ φύσει τὸ μετεχόμενον, πρὸς τοῦτο ἀνάγκη καὶ τὸ μετέχον συμμετατίθεσθαι. οἷον εὔπνουν γίνεται τὸ στόμα τοῦ λαβόντος τι τῶν εὐπνοούντων ἀρωμάτων διὰ τοῦ στόματος καὶ δυσῶδες πάλιν τοῦ σκορόδων ἐντραγόντος ἤ τινος ἄλλου τῶν δυσωδεστέρων. οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ δυσώδης μὲν πᾶς ῥύπος τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἐναντίου ἡ ἀρετὴ Χριστοῦ ἐστιν εὐωδία, ἡ δὲ ἀγαπητικὴ σχέσις τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἀγαπώμενον ἀνάκρασιν φυσικῶς κατεργάζεται· ὅπερ ἂν οὖν 5.423 διὰ τῆς φιλίας ἑλώμεθα, ἐκεῖνο γινόμεθα, ἢ εὐωδία Χριστοῦ ἢ δυσωδία. ὁ γὰρ τὸ καλὸν ἀγαπήσας καλὸς καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται, τῆς ἀγαθότητος τοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ γενομένου πρὸς ἑαυτὴν τὸν δεξάμενον μεταποιούσης. διὰ τοῦτο ἐδώδιμον ἡμῖν ἑαυτὸν προτίθησιν ὁ ἀεὶ ὤν, ἵνα ἀναλαβόντες αὐτὸν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἐκεῖνο γενώμεθα, ὅπερ ἐκεῖνός ἐστι· φησὶ γάρ, ὅτι Ἡ σάρξ μου ἀληθῶς ἐστι βρῶσις, καὶ τὸ αἷμά μου ἀληθῶς ἐστι πόσις. ὁ οὖν ταύτην ἀγαπῶν τὴν σάρκα οὐκ ἔσται φιλόσαρκος, καὶ ὁ πρὸς τοῦτο τὸ αἷμα διατεθεὶς τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ αἵματος καθα ρεύσει. ἡ γὰρ τοῦ λόγου σὰρξ καὶ τὸ τῇ σαρκὶ ταύτῃ ἐγκεί μενον αἷμα οὐ μίαν τινὰ χάριν ἔχει, ἀλλ' ἡδύ τε γίνεται τοῖς γευομένοις καὶ ὀρεκτὸν τοῖς ἐπιθυμοῦσι καὶ τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν ἐράσμιον. εἰ δέ τις τρέψειε πρὸς τὰ μὴ ὑφεστῶτα τὸ φίλτρον, οἷα τῇ φύσει ταῦτά ἐστιν ἀνάγκη πᾶσα τοιοῦτον γενέσθαι καὶ τὸν ἐν ἐκείνοις γενόμενον. ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι τὸ μέν τι ἀληθές ἐστι, τὸ δὲ μάταιον, γνῶναι προσήκει τὸ μάταιον, ἵνα διὰ τῆς ἀντιπαραθέσεως τὴν τῶν ἀληθῶς ὄντων φύσιν νοήσωμεν. οὕτω γὰρ ποιοῦσι πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι οἱ τοὺς ἀποσφα λέντας τῆς εὐθείας ὁδοῦ καὶ διὰ τῆς πεπλανημένης ὁδοιποροῦντας πρὸς τὴν ὁδόν, ἀφ' ἧς ἐξετράπησαν, ἐπανάγον τες, ἐμβοῶντες πόρρωθεν, ὅτι φύγε τὴν ὁδόν, ἐν ᾗ πορεύῃ· 5.424 λῃσταὶ γὰρ κατ' αὐτὴν καὶ λωποδύται καὶ φονέων ἐνέδραι, ἵνα μαθὼν ὁ ὁδίτης τὸν κίνδυνον ἐκτραπῇ τῆς ὀλεθρίας ὁδοῦ· ἡ δὲ ἀναχώρησις ἐκείνης ὁδηγία τῆς σῳζούσης γίνεται. οὕτως καὶ ὁ μέγας ἐκκλησιαστὴς ἄνωθεν ἐμβοᾷ τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει τῇ ἐν ἀβάτῳ πλανωμένῃ καὶ οὐχ ὁδῷ, καθώς φησιν ὁ προφήτης, ταῦτα ἄντικρυς, δι' ὧν φθέγγεται, λέγων· τί πλανᾶσθε διὰ τοῦ βίου, ὦ ἄνθρωποι; τί ἀγαπᾶτε τὰ μάταια καὶ φιλεῖτε τὰ ἀνυπόστατα καὶ προστετήκατε τῇ διαθέσει τούτοις, ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπόστασις; ἄλλη ἐστὶν ὁδὸς ἀπλανής τε καὶ σωτήριος. ἐκείνην φιλήσατε, ἐν ἐκείνῃ διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης ὁδοιπορήσατε, ἧς τὸ ὄνομα ἀλήθειά ἐστι καὶ ζωὴ καὶ φῶς καὶ ἀφθαρσία καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα. αὕτη δὲ ἡ ὁδός, δι' ἧς νῦν τρέχετε, μίσους καὶ ἀποστροφῆς ἀξία· ἀφεγγὴς γάρ ἐστι καὶ σκότῳ διειλημμένη, εἰς κρημνοὺς δὲ ἄγει καὶ βάραθρα καὶ θηριώδεις τόπους καὶ λῃστῶν ἐνέδρας. ὁ τοίνυν εἰπὼν ὅτι Καιρὸς τοῦ φιλῆσαι τὸ φιλητὸν ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ ἀγαπητὸν ἐνεδείξατο, καὶ ὁ τῷ μίσει τὸν καιρὸν προσγράψας ὧν χρὴ τὴν ἀποστροφὴν ἔχειν ἐδίδαξεν. οὐκοῦν μαθόντες τὸ ἀγαπητὸν τῇ φύσει τούτου διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης περιεχώμεθα, μηδαμοῦ 5.425 παρατραπέντες ὑπὸ τῆς περὶ τὸ καλὸν ἀκρισίας, ἐν τούτοις τὸ φίλτρον δαπανήσαντες, ἐν οἷς ἀπαγορεύει καὶ ὁ μέγας ∆αβὶδ λέγων· Υἱοὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἕως πότε βαρυκάρδιοι; ἵνα τί ἀγαπᾶτε ματαιότητα καὶ ζητεῖτε ψεῦδος; ἓν γὰρ μόνον ἀγαπητὸν τῇ φύσει τὸ ἀληθῶς ὄν, περὶ οὗ φησι καὶ ἡ δεκάλογος νομοθεσία, ὅτι Ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας σου· καὶ ἓν πάλιν μισητὸν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ὁ τῆς κακίας εὑρετής, ὁ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν πολέμιος, περὶ οὗ φησιν ὁ νόμος, ὅτι Μισήσεις τὸν ἐχθρόν σου. ἡ γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀγάπη ἰσχὺς τοῦ ἀγαπῶντος γίνεται, ἡ δὲ πρὸς τὴν κακίαν διάθεσις ὄλεθρον φέρει τῷ τὸ κακὸν ἀγαπῶντι. οὕτω γάρ φησιν ἡ προφητεία· Ἀγαπήσω σε, κύριε ἡ ἰσχύς μου· κύριος στερέωμά μου καὶ καταφυγή μου καὶ ῥύστης μου, περὶ δὲ τοῦ ἐναντίου φησίν· Ὁ δὲ ἀγαπῶν ἀδικίαν μισεῖ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν, ἐπιβρέξει ἐπὶ ἁμαρτωλοὺς παγίδα. καιρὸς οὖν τοῦ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν φίλτρου ἡ ζωὴ πᾶσα καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀντικειμένου ἀλλοτριώ σεως ὁ βίος ὅλος. ὁ δὲ μικρόν τι τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ζωῆς ἔξω τοῦ φιλεῖν τὸν θεὸν γενόμενος ἔξω γίνεται πάντως, οὗ τῆς 5.426