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let such men be considered fathers, though they fall far short of them in the reasoning of philosophy; but when they have begotten them in this way, then let them also seek their descendants; for only then will they be able to see them. For they have children, they have, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God Himself. These children do not compel their fathers to toil for money, nor for marriage, nor for anything else of that sort, but having released them from all care, exempt, they allow them to revel in a pleasure greater than that of natural fathers. For they are not born and nourished on the same things as those others, but on things much greater and more splendid; for which reason they also gladden their parents more. And apart from these things I would say this, that it is not unreasonable for those who disbelieve in the resurrection to mourn over these things, since this is the only consolation left to them; but we who consider death a sleep, and are taught to despise all things here, of what pardon would we be worthy, mourning over these things, and seeking to see and to leave children here, from where we are eager to leap away, and while here we groan? And these things have been said by us to the more spiritual. But if there are some who are lovers of the body, and are strongly attached to the present life, 47.377 I would say this to them, that first it is uncertain if children will follow marriage in every case; second, that even when they are born, the despondency is greater; for we do not reap so much gladness, as sorrow from the daily care and anxiety and fears on their account. And to whom, he says, will we leave the fields and the houses and the slaves and the gold? for I hear them lamenting these things too. To him who was going to inherit them even before this, and so much more now than before, inasmuch as a safer guardian and master of them he will be now. For then there were many things that harmed them; for both moths, and long time, and robbers, and slanderers, and the envious, and the uncertainty of the future, and the fickleness of men, and finally death, would have deprived the son of both the money and these possessions; but now he has laid up the wealth above all these things, having found an inviolable place, which it is not permitted for any of the aforementioned to set foot on. For such a place is heaven, being inaccessible to every plot, and more fertile than all the earth, and with great abundance of the riches laid up in it, it allows those who have deposited them to reap the fruits. So that one should not say these things now, but if the child was going to be worldly, then one should lament, and utter these things: To whom should we leave the fields, to whom the gold, to whom the other possessions? For now the abundance of ownership is so great, that not even after the departure from here does one fall from the mastery of them, but then most of all one enjoys the profit of them, when we depart from here. But if you wish to see him as master even here, one might see this happening more to the monk than to the worldly man. For who, tell me, is more the master? The one who spends and gives with much freedom, or the one who does not even dare to touch them out of stinginess, but buries them, and refrains from his own possessions as if they were another's? the one who spends them vainly and at random, or the one who does this fittingly? the one who sows the earth, or the one who works this in heaven? the one who is not permitted to give all his own things to whomsoever he might wish, or the one who is freed from all who demand such contributions? For to the one who farms and does business, many from all sides stand over him, forcing him to pay taxes, and each demanding his own share; but to the one who desires to spend on the needy, no one from anywhere will appear threatening these things; so that even here this one is more the master. Or if one spends on prostitutes and gluttony and parasites and flatterers, and disgraces his own reputation, and destroys his salvation, and becomes ridiculous, do you say he is master of what is spent; if

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πατέρες ἀξιούσθωσαν εἶναι οἱ τοιοῦτοι, ὧν πολὺ κατὰ τὸν τῆς φιλοσοφίας λείπονται λόγον· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὰν αὐτοὺς τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον γεννήσωσι, τότε καὶ τοὺς ἐκγόνους ζητείτωσαν· τότε γὰρ αὐτοὺς καὶ ἰδεῖν δυνήσονται μόνον. Εἰσὶ γὰρ αὐτοῖς παῖδες, εἰσὶν, οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς, ἀλλ' ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεννηθέντες τοῦ Θεοῦ. Οὗτοι οἱ παῖδες οὐχ ὑπὲρ χρημάτων ἀναγκάζουσι κόπτεσθαι τοὺς πατέρας, οὐχ ὑπὲρ γάμου, οὐχ ὑπὲρ ἄλλου τινὸς τοιούτου, ἀλλὰ πάσης αὐτοὺς τῆς φροντίδος ἀτελεῖς ἀφέντες, τῶν φυσικῶν πατέρων μείζονι παρέχουσιν ἐντρυφᾷν ἡδονῇ. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς τίκτονταί τε καὶ τρέφονται, οἷσπερ κἀκεῖνοι, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ πολλῷ μείζοσι καὶ λαμπροτέροις· διὸ καὶ μᾶλλον τοὺς γεγεννηκότας εὐφραίνουσι. Χωρὶς δὲ τούτων κἀκεῖνο εἴποιμι ἂν, ὅτι τοὺς μὲν διαπιστοῦντας τῇ ἀναστάσει οὐδὲν ἀπεικὸς ὑπὲρ τούτων θρηνεῖν, ἅτε δὴ ταύτης μόνης καταλειπομένης τῆς παραμυθίας αὐτοῖς· οἱ δὲ τὸν θάνατον ὕπνον ἡγούμενοι, καὶ παιδευόμενοι τῶν ἐνταῦθα πάντων καταφρονεῖν, τίνος ἂν εἴημεν συγγνώμης ἄξιοι θρηνοῦντες ὑπὲρ τούτων, καὶ παῖδας ἐπιζητοῦντες ἰδεῖν καὶ καταλιπεῖν ἐνθάδε, ὅθεν ἀποπηδᾷν ἐπειγόμεθα, καὶ ἐνταῦθα ὄντες στενάζομεν; Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἡμῖν πρὸς τοὺς πνευματικωτέρους εἴρηται. Εἰ δέ τινες εἶεν φιλοσώματοι, καὶ σφόδρα τῷ παρόντι προσηλωμένοι βίῳ, 47.377 ἐκεῖνο ἂν εἴποιμι πρὸς αὐτοὺς, ὅτι πρῶτον ἄδηλον, εἰ καὶ παῖδες ἕψονται τῷ γάμῳ πάντως· δεύτερον, ὅτι καὶ γενομένων μείζων ἡ ἀθυμία· οὐ γὰρ τοσαύτην καρπούμεθα εὐφροσύνην, ὅσην λύπην ἀπὸ τῆς καθημερινῆς φροντίδος καὶ τῆς ἀγωνίας καὶ τῶν φόβων τῶν δι' αὐτούς. Καὶ τίνι, φησὶ, καταλείψομεν τοὺς ἀγροὺς καὶ τὰς οἰκίας καὶ τὰ ἀνδράποδα καὶ τὸ χρυσίον; καὶ γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα ἀκούω θρηνούντων αὐτῶν. Τῷ καὶ πρὸ τούτων μέλλοντι κληρονομήσειν αὐτὰ, καὶ τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον νῦν ἢ πρότερον, ὅσῳ καὶ φύλαξ καὶ κύριος ἀσφαλέστερος αὐτῶν ἔσται νῦν. Τότε μὲν γὰρ πολλὰ ἦν αὐτοῖς τὰ λυμαινόμενα· καὶ γὰρ σῆτες, καὶ χρόνος μακρὸς, καὶ λῃσταὶ, καὶ συκοφάνται, καὶ βάσκανοι, καὶ τὸ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἄδηλον, καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων εὐμετάβλητον, καὶ τέλος ὁ θάνατος, καὶ τῶν χρημάτων, καὶ τῶν κτημάτων τούτων ἀπεστέρησεν ἂν τὸν υἱόν· νυνὶ δὲ πάντων τούτων ἀνωτέρω τὸν πλοῦτον ἀπέθετο, τόπον εὑρὼν ἄσυλον, καὶ οὗ μηδενὶ τῶν εἰρημένων ἐπιβῆναι θέμις. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ χωρίον ὁ οὐρανὸς, πάσῃ μὲν ἄβατος ὢν ἐπιβουλῇ, πάσης δὲ εὐφορώτερος γῆς, καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀφθονίας τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ τεθέντων χρημάτων παρέχων τοῖς παρακαταθεμένοις ἀμᾶσθαι τοὺς καρπούς. Ὥστε οὐχὶ νῦν ταῦτα ἔδει λέγειν, ἀλλ' εἰ βιωτικὸν ἔμελλεν ἔσεσθαι τὸ παιδίον, τότε θρηνεῖν, καὶ ταῦτα φθέγγεσθαι· Τίνι τοὺς ἀγροὺς καταλείπωμεν, τίνι τὸ χρυσίον, τίνι τὰ λοιπὰ χρήματα; Νῦν γὰρ τοσαύτη τῆς κυριότητος ἡ περιουσία, ὡς μηδὲ μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἀποδημίαν ἐκπίπτειν τῆς δεσποτείας αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ τότε μάλιστα τοῦ κέρδους αὐτῶν ἀπολαύειν, ὅταν ἐντεῦθεν ἀπέλθωμεν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐνταῦθα βούλει κύριον ὅντα ἰδεῖν, καὶ τοῦτο τῷ μοναχῷ μᾶλλον, ἢ τῷ βιωτικῷ συμβαῖνον ἴδοι τις ἄν. Τίς γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, κυριώτερος; ὁ δαπανῶν καὶ διδοὺς μετὰ ἀδείας πολλῆς, ἢ ὁ μηδὲ ἅψασθαι τολμῶν ὑπὸ τῆς φειδωλίας, ἀλλὰ κατορύττων αὐτὰ, καὶ ὡς ἀλλοτρίων ἀπεχόμενος τῶν αὐτοῦ; ὁ μάτην ἀναλίσκων καὶ εἰκῆ, ἢ ὁ δεόντως τοῦτο ποιῶν; ὁ σπείρων τὴν γῆν, ἢ ὁ τοῦτο ἐργαζόμενος ἐν οὐρανῷ; ὁ μὴ πάντα συγχωρούμενος τὰ ἑαυτοῦ διδόναι, οἷς ἂν ἐθέλοι, ἢ ὁ πάντων ἀπηλλαγμένος τῶν ἀπαιτούντων τὰς τοιαύτας συνεισφοράς; Γεωργοῦντι μὲν γὰρ καὶ πραγματευομένῳ πολλοὶ πανταχόθεν ἐφίστανται, φόρους ἀναγκάζοντες κατατιθέναι, καὶ τὸ ἑαυτοῦ μέρος ἕκαστος ἀπαιτοῦντες· τῷ δὲ εἰς τοὺς δεομένους ἀναλίσκειν ἐπιθυμοῦντι οὐδεὶς οὐδαμόθεν φανεῖται ταῦτα ἀπειλῶν· ὥστε καὶ ἐνταῦθα κυριώτερος οὗτός ἐστιν. Ἢ ἂν μὲν πόρναις ἀναλίσκῃ καὶ γαστρὶ καὶ παρασίτοις καὶ κόλαξι, καὶ καταισχύνῃ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δόξαν, καὶ ἀπολλύῃ τὴν σωτηρίαν, καὶ καταγέλαστος γίνηται, κύριον αὐτὸν εἶναι φῂς τῶν δαπανωμένων· ἂν