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a thief may overtake you. For when men are awake and in the light, even if an entrance of a robber should occur, he will be able to do no harm; so it is also with those who live rightly. But those who are sleeping he will strip of all things and depart, those who are confident in the things here. Then also another thing in their favor; for he adds: For you are all, he says, sons of light and sons of day. And how is it possible, he says, to be sons of day? As sons of perdition, as sons of Gehenna. For this reason Christ also said to the Pharisees: Woe to you, for you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him a son of Gehenna; and Paul: Because of which things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, that is, those who do the things of Gehenna, the things of disobedience. As, therefore, sons of God are those who do the things pleasing to God, so also sons of day and sons of light are those who do the things of the light. We are not of the night nor of darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night; and those who get drunk, are drunk at night; 62.450 but since we are of the day, let us be sober. He shows here that to be in the day is our own doing. And here indeed, I speak of this day and night, it is not of our doing, but even against our will the night comes, and sleep befalls us even when we do not wish it; but concerning that night and that sleep, it is no longer so, but it is possible to be awake always, it is possible to live in day always. For to close the eyes of the soul, and to bring on the sleep from wickedness, is not a matter of nature, but of choice. But let us keep awake, he says, and be sober. For it is possible for one who is awake to be sleeping, by doing nothing good; for this reason he added, And let us be sober. For even during the day if someone is awake, but is not sober, he will fall into countless dreadful things, So that sobriety is an intensification of watchfulness. Those who sleep, he says, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. He speaks here of drunkenness not only from wine, but also from all evil things. For drunkenness of the soul is wealth, and the desire for money, and the love of bodies, and whatever you might say, is drunkenness of the soul. But why did he call wickedness sleep? Because, first, such a person is inactive toward virtue; then, because he imagines all things, and sees nothing true, but is full of dreams, and often of absurd things; and if he sees something good, he has nothing sure or fixed. Such is the present life; it is full of dreams and fantasies. Wealth is a dream, glory, all such things. He who is sleeping does not see the things that are and that truly exist, but the things that are not. he imagines as being. Such is wickedness, and life in wickedness; he does not see the things that are, that is, the spiritual things, the heavenly things, the abiding things, but the things that are flowing and flying away and quickly leaping from us. But it is not enough to be awake and sober, but one must also be armed. For even if someone is awake and sober, but does not have weapons, the robbers quickly overpower him. When, therefore, it is necessary to be awake and sober and armed, but we are unarmed and naked and sleeping, who will prevent him from plunging the sword? Therefore, making this clear, that we need weapons, he added: But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. —Of faith and love, he says. Here he alludes to a life with right doctrines. See how he showed what it is to be awake and sober, to have a breastplate, he says, of faith and love. He does not mean any ordinary faith, but that which is fervent, sincere, which makes invincible those who have put it on. Just as nothing can quickly cut through the breastplate, but it is an unseen little wall for the chest; so also you, gird your soul with faith and love, and none of the flaming darts of the devil will be able to be fixed in it. For where the power of the soul has been preoccupied by the weapon of love,

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κλέπτης ὑμᾶς καταλάβῃ. Ἐπὶ γὰρ ἐγρηγορότων καὶ ἐν φωτὶ ὄντων, κἂν γένηταί τις εἴσοδος λῃστοῦ, οὐδὲν λυμήνασθαι δυνήσεται· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρθῶς ζώντων· ἀλλ' ἐκείνους τοὺς καθεύδοντας πάντων γυμνώσας ἄπεισι, τοὺς τοῖς ἐνθάδε θαῤῥοῦντας. Εἶτα καὶ ἄλλο ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν· ἐπάγει γάρ· Πάντες γὰρ ὑμεῖς, φησὶν, υἱοὶ φωτός ἐστε καὶ υἱοὶ ἡμέρας. Καὶ πῶς ἔνι, φησὶν, υἱοὺς ἡμέρας εἶναι; Ὡς υἱοὺς ἀπωλείας, ὡς υἱοὺς γεέννης. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἔλεγε τοῖς Φαρισαίοις· Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, ὅτι περιάγετε τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὴν ξηρὰν, ποιῆσαι ἕνα προσήλυτον· καὶ ὅταν γένηται, ποιεῖτε αὐτὸν γεέννης υἱόν· καὶ ὁ Παῦλος· ∆ι' ἃ ἔρχεται ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας, τουτέστι, τοὺς τὰ τῆς γεέννης πράττοντας, τοὺς τὰ τῆς ἀπειθείας. Ὥσπερ οὖν υἱοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ οἱ τὰ τῷ Θεῷ δοκοῦντα πράττοντες, οὕτω καὶ υἱοὶ ἡμέρας καὶ υἱοὶ φωτὸς, οἱ τὰ τοῦ φωτὸς πράττοντες. Οὐκ ἐσμὲν νυκτὸς οὐδὲ σκότους. Ἄρα οὖν μὴ καθεύδωμεν, ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ, ἀλλὰ γρηγορῶμεν καὶ νήφωμεν. Οἱ γὰρ καθεύδοντες, νυκτὸς καθεύδουσι· καὶ οἱ μεθυσκόμενοι, νυκτὸς μεθύουσιν· 62.450 ἡμεῖς δὲ ἡμέρας ὄντες, νήφωμεν. ∆είκνυσιν ἐνταῦθα ὅτι τὸ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εἶναι ἡμῶν ἐστι. Καὶ ἐνταῦθα μὲν, ἐπὶ τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς λέγω, οὐχ ἡμῶν ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀκόντων ἡμῶν ἔρχεται ἡ νὺξ, καὶ μὴ βουλομένων ὁ ὕπνος ἐφίσταται· ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς νυκτὸς ἐκείνης καὶ τοῦ ὕπνου, οὐκέτι, ἀλλ' ἔξεστι διαπαντὸς ἐγρηγορέναι, ἔξεστι διαπαντὸς ἡμέραν ἄγειν. Τοὺς γὰρ τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμοὺς κλεῖσαι, καὶ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς κακίας ὕπνον ἐπαγαγεῖν, οὐκ ἔστι φύσεως, ἀλλὰ προαιρέσεως. Ἀλλὰ γρηγορῶμεν, φησὶ, καὶ νήφωμεν. Ἔξεστι γὰρ ἐγρηγορότα καθεύδειν, μηδὲν πράττοντα ἀγαθόν· διὰ τοῦτο ἐπήγαγε, Καὶ νήφωμεν. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἂν γρηγορῇ τις, μὴ νήφῃ δὲ, μυρίοις περιπεσεῖται δεινοῖς, Ὥστε γρηγορήσεως ἐπίτασις ἡ νῆψίς ἐστιν. Οἱ καθεύδοντες, φησὶ, νυκτὸς καθεύδουσι, καὶ οἱ μεθυσκόμενοι, νυκτὸς μεθύουσι. Μέθην ἐνταῦθά φησιν οὐ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ οἴνου μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν κακῶν. Καὶ γὰρ μέθη ψυχῆς πλοῦτος, καὶ χρημάτων ἐπιθυμία, καὶ σωμάτων ἔρως, καὶ πᾶν ὅπερ ἂν εἴπῃς, μέθη ψυχῆς ἐστι. ∆ιὰ τί δὲ ὕπνον τὴν κακίαν ἐκάλεσεν; Ὅτι πρῶτον μὲν ἀνενέργητός ἐστι πρὸς τὴν ἀρετὴν ὁ τοιοῦτος· ἔπειτα, ὅτι πάντα φαντασιοῦται, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀληθὲς ὁρᾷ, ἀλλ' ὀνειράτων ἐστὶ μεστὸς, καὶ ἀτόπων πολλάκις πραγμάτων· ἂν δέ τι χρηστὸν ἴδῃ, οὐδὲν ἔχει βέβαιον οὐδὲ πεπηγός. Τοιοῦτον ὁ παρὼν βίος ἐστίν· ὀνειράτων καὶ φαντασίας γέμει. Ὁ πλοῦτος ὄναρ, ἡ δόξα, πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα. Ὁ καθεύδων, τὰ μὲν ὄντα καὶ ἀληθῶς ὑφεστῶτα οὐχ ὁρᾷ, τὰ δὲ μὴ ὄντα. ὡς ὄντα φαντασιοῦται. Τοιαύτη ἡ κακία ἐστὶ, καὶ ὁ ἐν κακίᾳ βίος· οὐχ ὁρᾷ τὰ ὄντα, τουτέστι, τὰ πνευματικὰ, τὰ οὐράνια, τὰ μένοντα, ἀλλὰ τὰ ῥέοντα καὶ ἀφιπτάμενα καὶ ἀποπηδῶντα ταχέως ἡμῶν. Οὐκ ἀρκεῖ δὲ ἐγρηγορέναι καὶ νήφειν, ἀλλὰ δεῖ καὶ καθοπλίζεσθαι. Κἂν γὰρ ἐγρηγορώς τις ᾖ καὶ νήφων, μὴ ἔχῃ δὲ ὅπλα, ταχέως αὐτὸν οἱ λῃσταὶ κατεργάζονται. Ὅταν οὖν καὶ ἐγρηγορέναι χρὴ καὶ νήφειν καὶ καθοπλίζεσθαι, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἄοπλοι καὶ γυμνοὶ ὦμεν καὶ καθεύδωμεν, τίς κωλύσει ἐκεῖνον πῆξαι τὴν μάχαιραν; ∆ιὸ καὶ τοῦτο δηλῶν, ὅτι ὅπλων ἡμῖν δεῖ, ἐπήγαγεν· Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἡμέρας ὄντες νήφωμεν, ἐνδυσάμενοι θώρακα πίστεως καὶ ἀγάπης· καὶ περικεφαλαίαν, ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας. -Πίστεως καὶ ἀγάπης, φησίν. Ἐνταῦθα βίον μετὰ δογμάτων ὀρθῶν αἰνίττεται. Ὅρα πῶς ἐδήλωσε τί ἐστι τὸ ἐγρηγορέναι καὶ νήφειν, τὸ ἔχειν θώρακα, φησὶ, πίστεως καὶ ἀγάπης. Πίστιν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσάν φησιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ζέουσαν, τὴν εἰλικρινῆ, τὴν ἀχειρώτους ποιοῦσαν τοὺς προβεβλημένους αὐτήν. Ὥσπερ τὸν θώρακα οὐδὲν ἂν διατέμοι ταχέως, ἀλλ' ἔστιν ἀφανὲς τειχίον τῷ στήθει· οὕτω καὶ σὺ πίστιν καὶ ἀγάπην περιέλασον τῇ ψυχῇ, καὶ οὐδὲν τῶν πεπυρωμένων βελῶν τοῦ διαβόλου ἐμπαγῆναι δυνήσεται. Ἔνθα γὰρ ᾖ προκατειλημμένη τῷ τῆς ἀγάπης ὅπλῳ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡ δύναμις,