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he drew near. He was encompassed by the tent above. He adorned the priesthood. He pitched the tent. He set his life right by the laws. He won the final wars in the manner described. 2.313 At the completion of his achievements, he punished licentiousness through the priesthood. For this was what the wrath against the passion that came through Phinehas signified. After all these things, he approaches the mountain of rest. He does not set foot on the land below which the people below looked to by promise. He who has practiced living on that which flows from above no longer tastes earthly food, but having gone up to the very summit of the mountain, like some skilled sculptor, having fashioned precisely the whole statue of his life, at the height of his creation he placed not an end, but a crown on his work. 2.314 For what does the history say about him? That Moses the servant of the Lord died by the word of God, and no one knew his tomb, and his eyes were not dimmed, and his face was not marred. For we are taught by these things that by so many achievements he was then deemed worthy of this high name, to be called servant of God, which is the same as to say that he became greater than all. For no one could serve God without becoming greater than all things in the world. And this for him is also the end of the virtuous life, accomplished by the word of God, which the history calls a death, a living death, which no tomb succeeds, upon which no mound is heaped, which does not bring dimness to the eyes or corruption to the face. 2.315 What then are we taught by what has been said? To look to one end throughout life: to be called servants of God through the lives we have lived. For when you have conquered all the enemies, the Egyptian, the Amalekite, the Idumean, the Midianite, and you have crossed the water and been enlightened by the cloud and sweetened by the wood and you drink from the rock and you taste the food from above and through purity and chastity you have made for yourself the way up to the mountain and having come there you are instructed in the divine mystery by the sound of the trumpets and in the impenetrable darkness you approach God through faith and there you are taught the mysteries of the tent and the dignity of the priesthood, 2.316 when you have become the stone-cutter of your own hearts, so as to engrave in them the divine oracles from God, when you have destroyed the golden idol, that is, if you wipe out the desire for greed from your life, when you have been so exalted as to appear invincible to the sorcery of Balaam (and when you hear of sorcery, understand me to mean the manifold deceit of this life, by which men, as if bewitched by some Circean mixing bowl, depart from their own nature and are transformed into the shapes of irrational creatures), when you have come through all these things and the rod of priesthood has sprouted in you, drawing no moisture from the earth for its budding, but having the power of the fruit from within itself and of a nut-like fruit, whose first encounter is bitter and astringent, but what lies within is sweet and edible, when everything that rises up against your dignity proceeds to destruction, going underground like Dathan or being consumed by fire like Korah, then you will approach the end. 2.317 And I speak of an end for the sake of which all things are done, for instance, the end of farming is the enjoyment of the fruits, the end of building a house is habitation, the end of commerce is wealth and of the labors in the games, the crown. So also the end of the exalted way of life is to be called a servant of God, with which is associated not being covered over by a tomb, and this is for life to become naked and free of evil encumbrances. 2.318 And the Word says another sign of this servitude is that neither the eye was dimmed, nor the face corrupted. For how will the eye that is always in the light be dimmed by the darkness from which it is estranged? And he who has achieved incorruptibility in his whole life will in no way admit any corruption upon himself. For he who has truly become in the image of God and has nowhere turned aside

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προσήγγισεν. Ὑπὸ τῆς ἄνω σκηνῆς περιεσχέθη. Τὴν ἱερωσύνην ἐκόσμησε. Τὴν σκηνὴν ἐπήξατο. Τοῖς νόμοις τὴν ζωὴν διωρθώσατο. Τοὺς τελευταίους πολέμους κατὰ τὸν εἰρημένον τρόπον κατώρθωσεν. 2.313 Ἐπὶ τέλει τῶν κατορθωμάτων τὴν ἀκολασίαν διὰ τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἐκόλασε. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ διὰ τοῦ Φινεὲς γενομένη κατὰ τοῦ πάθους ὀργὴ ὑπῃνίξατο. Ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις, πρόσεισι τῷ ὄρει τῆς ἀναπαύσεως. Οὐκ ἐπιβαίνει τῆς κάτω γῆς πρὸς ἣν ὁ κάτω λαὸς ἐξ ἐπαγγελίας ἑώρα. Οὐ γεύεται γηΐνης ἔτι τροφῆς ὁ τῇ ἄνωθεν ἐπιρρεούσῃ ζῆν μελέτησας, ἀλλ' ἄνω γενόμενος κατ' αὐτὴν τοῦ ὄρους τὴν ἀκρώρειαν, ὥσπερ τις ἀνδριαν τοποιὸς ἐπιστήμων, ὅλον ἑαυτοῦ τὸν ἀνδριάντα τοῦ βίου ἐξεργασάμενος ἀκριβῶς, ἐπὶ τῷ ἄκρῳ τῆς κατασκευῆς οὐχὶ τελευτήν, ἀλλὰ κορυφὴν τῷ ἔργῳ ἐπέθηκε. 2.314 Τί γάρ φησι περὶ αὐτοῦ ἡ ἱστορία; Ὅτι ἐτελεύτησε Μωϋσῆς οἰκέτης Κυρίου διὰ ῥήματος Θεοῦ, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὴν ταφὴν αὐτοῦ, καὶ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἠμαυρώ θησαν, καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐφθάρη. ∆ιδασκόμεθα γὰρ διὰ τούτων ὅτι διὰ τοσούτων κατορθωμάτων γενόμενος τότε ἀξιοῦται τοῦ ὑψηλοῦ τούτου ὀνόματος, ὥστε οἰκέτης κληθῆναι Θεοῦ, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἴσον εἰπεῖν ὅτι παντὸς κρείττων ἐγένετο. Οὐ γὰρ ἄν τις Θεῷ δουλεύσειε μὴ τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ πάντων κρείττων γενόμενος. Τοῦτο δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ τέλος ἐστὶ τοῦ κατ' ἀρετὴν βίου διὰ ῥήματος Θεοῦ κατορ θούμενον, ὃ δὴ τελευτὴν ἡ ἱστορία λέγει, τελευτὴν ζῶσαν, ἣν οὐ διαδέχεται τάφος, ᾗ οὐκ ἐπιχώννυται τύμβος, ἡ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἀμαυρότητα καὶ τῷ προσώπῳ διαφθορὰν οὐκ ἐπάγουσα. 2.315 Τί οὖν παιδευόμεθα διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων; Πρὸς ἓν τέλος διὰ τοῦ βίου βλέπειν τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ οἰκέται διὰ τῶν βεβιωμένων κληθῆναι. Ὅταν γὰρ πάντας τοὺς ἐχθροὺς καταγωνίσῃ, τὸν Αἰγύπτιον, τὸν Ἀμαληκίτην, τὸν Ἰδουμαῖον, τὸν Μαδιανίτην, καὶ περάσῃς τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ φωτισθῇς τῇ νεφέλῃ καὶ γλυκανθῇς διὰ τοῦ ξύλου καὶ πίῃς τῆς πέτρας καὶ τῆς ἄνωθεν γεύσῃ τροφῆς καὶ διὰ τῆς καθαρότητός τε καὶ ἁγνείας ὁδοποιήσῃς σεαυτῷ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος ἄνοδον κἀκεῖ γενόμενος κατηχηθῇς τὸ θεῖον μυστήριον τῇ τῶν σαλπίγγων ἠχῇ καὶ ἐν τῷ δυσθεωρήτῳ γνόφῳ διὰ πίστεως τῷ Θεῷ προσεγγίσῃς κἀκεῖ διδαχθῇς τὰ τῆς σκηνῆς μυστηρία καὶ τὸ τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἀξίωμα, 2.316 ὅταν γένῃ τῶν σῶν καρδιῶν λαοξόος, ὥστε ἐν ταύταις παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ θεῖα λόγια ἐγχαράξαι, ὅταν τὸ τοῦ χρυσοῦ εἴδωλον ἐξαφανίσῃς, τουτέστι ἐὰν τὴν πλεονεκτικὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐξαλείψῃς τοῦ βίου, ὅταν τοσοῦτον ὑψωθῇς, ὥστε ἄμαχος φανῆναι τῇ γοητείᾳ τοῦ Βαλαὰμ (γοητείαν δὲ ἀκούσας, νόησόν μοι τὴν ποικίλην τῆς ζωῆς ταύτης ἀπάτην, δι' ἧς οἱ ἄνθρωποι, καθάπερ τινὶ Κιρκαίῳ κρατῆρι φαρμακευόμενοι, τῆς ἰδίας ἐκστάντες φύσεως εἰς ἀλόγων μορφὰς μεταπλάττονται), ὅταν διὰ πάντων γένῃ τούτων καὶ βλαστήσῃ ἐν σοὶ τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἡ ῥάβδος, ἡ μηδεμίαν τινὰ γῆς ἰκμάδα πρὸς τὴν βλάστην ἐφελκομένη, ἀλλ' οἴκοθεν τοῦ καρποῦ τὴν δύναμιν ἔχουσα καὶ καρποῦ καρυΐνου, οὗ ἡ μὲν πρώτη ἔντευξις πικρά τε καὶ κατεστυμμένη, τὸ δὲ ἐγκείμενον ἡδὺ καὶ ἐδώδιμον, ὅταν πᾶν τὸ ἐπανιστάμενον κατὰ τοῦ σοῦ ἀξιώματος εἰς ἀφανισμὸν χωρήσῃ, κατὰ τὸν ∆αθὰν ὑπόγειον γενόμενον ἢ ἐκδαπανηθὲν τῷ πυρὶ κατὰ τὸν Κορέ, τότε προσεγγίσεις τῷ τέλει. 2.317 Τέλος δὲ λέγω οὗ ἕνεκα πάντα γίνεται, οἷον τέλος τῆς γεωργικῆς ἡ ἀπόλαυσις τῶν καρπῶν, τέλος τῆς κατασκευῆς τοῦ οἴκου ἡ οἴκησις, τέλος τῆς ἐμπορίας ὁ πλοῦτος καὶ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι πόνων ὁ στέφανος. Οὕτω καὶ τῆς ὑψηλῆς πολιτείας τέλος τὸ κληθῆναι οἰκέτην Θεοῦ, ᾧ συνθεωρεῖται τὸ μὴ ὑποχωσθῆναι τῷ τύμβῳ, τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὸ γυμνήν τε καὶ ἀπέριττον τῶν πονηρῶν ἐφολκίων τὴν ζωὴν γενέσθαι. 2.318 Τῆς δὲ δουλείας ταύτης καὶ ἕτερον γνώρισμά φησιν ὁ λόγος τὸ μήτε ὀφθαλμὸν ἀμαυρωθῆναι, μήτε πρόσωπον διαφθαρῆναι. Ὁ γὰρ ἐν φωτὶ διὰ παντὸς ὢν ὀφθαλμὸς πῶς ἀμαυρωθήσεται διὰ σκότους οὗ ἠλλοτρίωται; Καὶ ὁ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ ζωῇ κατορθώσας οὐδεμίαν πάντως φθορὰν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ παραδέχεται. Ὁ γὰρ ἀληθῶς κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ γεγονὼς καὶ μηδαμοῦ παρατραπεὶς