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and they hungered. For since they killed the bread of life, the famine of bread came upon them; and since they plotted against the spring of living water, thirst came upon them, and the punishment from thirst was inflicted upon them; but a famine not of sensible bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. Therefore they became poor and hungered. But those from the nations having learned to seek the Lord will not be deprived of any good thing. The perfect good is God himself; of whom all who seek him will not be deprived. For let no uninstructed person, having an indiscriminate place concerning good and evil, call good that which has temporary enjoyment and departs with the corruption of the body. For he who reduces bodily wealth and bodily advantages to the rank of the good, brings the venerable name, which is fitting for God alone, to things that are cheap and worthy of no account, and at the same time will fall into a most difficult contradiction. For either he will say the apostles, because they did not seek the Lord, did not obtain bodily goods; or if, seeking, they failed to obtain such goods, he will accuse the Scripture itself, which says that those who seek the Lord are not deprived of any good. But the saints did indeed seek the Lord, and they were not deprived of the comprehension of him whom they sought, nor were they deprived of the goods laid up in eternal rest. For concerning those things it might properly be said, "Of every good." For bodily pleasures have more pain than pleasure; marriages, childlessness, widowhood, corruptions; agriculture, unfruitfulness; commerce, shipwrecks; riches, plots; luxuries and surfeits, and continuous pleasures the variety of sicknesses, and the manifoldness of sufferings. Yet Paul sought the Lord, and he lacked none of the good things. And yet who could recount the troubles of the body, with which he lived throughout his whole life? Three times he was beaten with rods, once he was stoned, three times he was shipwrecked, a night and a day he has been in the deep, in journeyings 29.369 often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in labor and toil, in necessities often. A man hungry even to the last hour, and thirsty, and naked, and buffeted, how was he not deprived of bodily goods? Therefore, lead up my thought to that which is truly good, that you may both recognize the harmony of Scripture, and not cast yourself down by the ambiguity of the concept. Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. The voice of a heartfelt teacher, calling to learning through fatherly compassion. For the disciple is the spiritual child of the teacher. For he who receives from someone the formation of piety, is, as it were, molded by him, and brought into being, just as infants are formed by the one who carries them in the womb. Whence also Paul, the whole Church of the Galatians, having fallen away from their former teachings, and having been, as it were, miscarried, taking them up again, and forming Christ in them anew, he called them children; and since he was making the correction of those who had erred with pain and affliction, he said he was in travail in his soul on account of the grief for those who had fallen away. My little children, for whom I am again in labor, until Christ is formed in you. Come, therefore, children, listen to me. What then is our spiritual father about to teach? The fear, he says, of the Lord I will teach you. Since above he commanded to fear the Lord, and showed the profit from fear, saying, "Because there is no want to them that fear him"; now he also delivers to us a certain teaching of the divine fear. For that one must be healthy, anyone can say, even the layman; but how one must acquire health, this is now the special province of one who knows the medical art. Not every fear is good and salutary, but there is also an enemy's fear, which the Prophet prays may not be engendered in his soul, saying; From fear

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καὶ ἐπείνασαν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀπέκτειναν τὸν ἄρτον τῆς ζωῆς, ἦλθεν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ὁ λιμὸς τοῦ ἄρτου· καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἐπεβούλευ σαν τῇ πηγῇ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ζῶντος, ἦλθεν αὐτοῖς ἡ δίψα, καὶ ἐπετέθη αὐτοῖς ἡ ἐκ τῆς δίψης κόλα σις· λιμὸς δὲ οὐχὶ ἄρτου αἰσθητοῦ, οὐδὲ δίψα ὕδατος, ἀλλὰ λιμὸς τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι λόγον Κυρίου. Ἐπτώχευσαν μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐπείνασαν. Οἱ μέντοι ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν μαθόντες ἐκζητεῖν τὸν Κύριον οὐκ ἐλαττωθήσονται παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ. Τὸ παντέλειον ἀγαθὸν αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός· οὗ οὐκ ἐλαττωθήσονται πάντες οἱ ἐκζητοῦντες αὐτόν. Μὴ γάρ μοί τις ἀπαίδευτος, ἀδιάκριτον ἔχων τὸν περὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ καὶ κακοῦ τόπον, ἀγαθὸν ὀνομαζέτω τὸν πρόσκαιρον ἔχοντα τὴν ἀπόλαυ σιν καὶ τῇ φθορᾷ τοῦ σώματος συναπερχομέ νην. Ὁ γὰρ τὸν σωματικὸν πλοῦτον καὶ τὰ σωματικὰ προτερήματα εἰς τὴν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τάξιν κατάγων, εἰς πράγματα εὐτελῆ καὶ οὐδενὸς λόγου ἄξια ἄγει τὸ σε μνὸν καὶ μόνῳ Θεῷ πρέπον ὄνομα, καὶ ἅμα ἐναντιώ ματι χαλεπωτάτῳ περιπεσεῖται. Ἢ γὰρ τοὺς ἀποστό λους ἐρεῖ, παρὰ τὸ μὴ ἐκζητῆσαι τὸν Κύριον, μὴ τετυχηκέναι τῶν σωματικῶν ἀγαθῶν· ἢ εἰ ἐκζη τοῦντες ἀπετύγχανον τῶν τοιούτων ἀγαθῶν, τῆς Γρα φῆς αὐτῆς κατηγορήσει λεγούσης μηδενὸς ἀγαθοῦ ἐλαττοῦσθαι τοὺς ἐκζητοῦντας τὸν Κύριον. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐξεζήτουν οἱ ἅγιοι τὸν Κύριον, καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ τοῦ ζη τουμένου καταλήψεως οὐκ ἠλαττοῦντο, οὐδὲ τῶν ἀπο κειμένων ἐν τῇ αἰωνίᾳ ἀναπαύσει ἀγαθῶν ἐστε ρήθησαν. Περὶ ἐκείνων γὰρ λέγοιτο ἂν κυρίως τὸ, Παντὸς ἀγαθοῦ. Αἱ γὰρ σωματικαὶ ἀπολαύσεις πλεῖον τὸ ὀδυνηρὸν ἔχουσι τοῦ ἡδέος· οἱ γάμοι τὰς ἀπαιδίας, τὰς χηρείας, τὰς διαφθοράς· αἱ γεωργίαι τὴν ἀκαρπίαν· αἱ ἐμπορίαι τὰ ναυάγια· οἱ πλοῦτοι τὰς ἐπιβουλάς· αἱ τρυφαὶ καὶ οἱ κόροι, καὶ αἱ συν εχεῖς ἀπολαύσεις τὸ ποικίλον τῶν νοσημάτων, καὶ τὸ πολυειδὲς τῶν παθῶν. Παῦλος μέντοι καὶ ἐξεζή τει τὸν Κύριον, καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτῷ ἔλειπε τῶν ἀγα θῶν. Καίτοι τίς ἂν ἐξαριθμήσαιτο τὰ τοῦ σώματος ὀχληρὰ, οἷς παρὰ πάντα τὸν ἑαυτοῦ βίον συνέζη; Τρὶς ἐῤῥαβδίσθη, ἅπαξ ἐλιθάσθη, τρὶς ἐναυάγησε, νυχθήμερον ἐν τῷ βυθῷ πεποίηκεν, ἐν ὁδοιπορίαις 29.369 πολλάκις, ἐν λιμῷ καὶ δίψει, ἐν νηστείαις πολλά κις, ἐν κόπῳ καὶ μόχθῳ, ἐν ἀνάγκαις πολλάκις. Μέ χρι τῆς ἐσχάτης ὥρας καὶ πεινῶν ἄνθρωπος, καὶ διψῶν, καὶ γυμνητεύων, καὶ κολαφιζόμενος, πῶς οὐκ ἠλαττοῦτο τῶν σωματικῶν ἀγαθῶν; Ἀνάγαγε οὖν μοι τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπὶ τὸ ὄντως ἀγαθὸν, ἵνα καὶ τὴν συμφωνίαν τῆς Γραφῆς ἐπιγνῷς, καὶ σεαυτὸν μὴ καταβάλῃς τῇ ἀμφιβολίᾳ τῆς ἐννοίας. ∆εῦτε, τέκνα, ἀκούσατέ μου· φόβον Κυρίου διδάξω ὑμᾶς. Ἐνδιαθέτου διδασκάλου φωνὴ, προσκαλουμένου εἰς μάθησιν διὰ πατρικῆς εὐσπλαγ χνίας. Καὶ γὰρ τέκνον ἐστὶ πνευματικὸν τοῦ διδασκά λου ὁ μαθητής. Ὁ γὰρ παρά τινος τὴν μόρφωσιν τῆς εὐσεβείας δεχόμενος, οὗτος οἱονεὶ διαπλάττεται παρ' αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἰς σύστασιν ἄγεται, ὥσπερ καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς κυοφορούσης τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ διαμορφούμενα βρέφη. Ὅθεν καὶ Παῦλος ὅλην τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν τῶν Γαλατῶν, ἐκ τῶν προτέρων διαπεσοῦσαν μαθημάτων, καὶ οἱονεὶ ἀμβλωθεῖσαν, πάλιν ἀναλαμβάνων, καὶ μορφῶν ἄνωθεν ἐν αὐτοῖς τὸν Χριστὸν, τέκνα ἔλεγε· καὶ ἐπειδὴ μετ' ὀδύνης καὶ θλίψεως ἐποιεῖτο τῶν ἐσφαλ μένων τὴν ἐπανόρθωσιν, ὠδίνειν ἔλεγε τῇ ψυχῇ διὰ τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀποπεσοῦσι λύπην. Τεκνία μου, οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω, ἄχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν. ∆εῦτε οὖν, τέκνα, ἀκούσατέ μου. Τί ποτε ἄρα διδά σκειν μέλλει ὁ πνευματικὸς ἡμῶν πατήρ; Φόβον, φησὶ, Κυρίου διδάξω ὑμᾶς. Ἐπειδὴ ἄνω προσέταξε φοβεῖσθαι τὸν Κύριον, καὶ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ φόβου κέρδος ὑπέδειξεν, εἰπὼν, Ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ὑστέρημα τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτόν· νῦν καὶ διδασκαλίαν τινὰ τοῦ θείου φόβου ἡμῖν παραδίδωσι. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ, ὅτι χρὴ ὑγιαίνειν, παντός ἐστιν εἰπεῖν, καὶ τοῦ ἰδιώτου· τὸ δὲ, πῶς χρὴ κτήσασθαι τὴν ὑγείαν, τοῦτο ἴδιον ἤδη τοῦ τὴν ἰατρικὴν τέχνην ἐπισταμένου. Οὐ πᾶς φόβος ἀγαθόν ἐστι καὶ σωτήριον, ἀλλ' ἔστι τις καὶ ἐχθρὸς φόβος, ὃν ἀπεύχεται ὁ Προφήτης ἐγγενέσθαι αὐτοῦ τῇ ψυχῇ, λέγων· Ἀπὸ φόβου