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but as truly of Him, the Word of God, the one of the Holy Trinity, having been incarnate from her by an ineffable conception, and having become completely human.

The holy Church of God, having taught her own to piously speak and understand these utterances, entrusted them to be guarded by the divine and brilliant light of knowledge; exhorting through both Prophets and Apostles, and Christ Himself who established and fitted her together by His own sufferings, to take up a life suitable and fitting for the great profession of the faith; Considering what is the will of God, that which is good and well-pleasing and perfect; and being vigilant in it. For we were taught to have need of an excellent way of life no less than a pious faith, in order to attain eternal life; lest, having built upon the foundation of faith things that do not belong, through wicked practices, having insulted, as it were, the call and the grace of adoption, we should render ourselves liable to eternal fire instead of joy and endless glory.

Seeing, therefore, blessed ones, and sober lovers of the blessed beauty of Christ, many ways of virtue, gifted to men by the Lord of all, having one purpose, and all arriving at one end unto salvation, let us not neglect our own salvation, nor let us waste the time given to us for repentance, which it is impossible to obtain again. (15Β_220> But before we go, as the great Job somewhere says, whence we shall not return, to a dark and gloomy land, to a land of eternal darkness, where there is no light, nor seeing the life of mortals, let each one of us hasten to propitiate God according to his own ability. For according to the varied and different conditions of our souls, as He is good, He has reasonably made many ways leading to the eternal mansions those who travel blamelessly through them, so that each one, choosing the way suitable for himself, and making the course of his life through it, might attain the all-glorious place set forth in heaven according to his hopes.

Therefore, as we have ability, by the cooperation and grace of Christ, let us take up our duties. Let us sympathetically relieve the misfortune of the poor, and let us not neglect 0505 to make his want more moderate. Let us not put off clothing the nakedness of the naked, reverencing the garment of incorruption given to us. Let us suffer with those worn out by the hardship of imprisonment and weakness of body, and those oppressed by the burden of exile, and let us hasten to make the difficulties of others our own; so that, by imitating Him who took up our infirmities and bore our diseases in regard to our fellow man, and by honoring with our deeds His philanthropic emptying of Himself for our sakes, we too might be able to become worthy beholders and partakers of His glory; not practicing these things for the sake of glory from men, of which nothing remains after this present life for the account of acceptance; but becoming wholly God's in truth, and serving Him who is and becomes all things to all men through philanthropy toward one another, let us both say and do all things by which we will be well-pleasing to Him. For thus by partial advances in virtue, (15Β_222> we will be able, with God's help, to say we have properly pursued divine philosophy at last; and to be transformed to the life above, having despised all things on earth; considering it better and more honorable to have the lowest rank with God, than to hold the first places on earth with the ruler below; by which, beginning to take it upon ourselves, and in quiet tranquility prudently accustoming the soul's senses to see creation, we may carry away the greatest profit, to be well-guided through the turmoil and instability of visible things, to those things that are stable and do not move; but not to remain in them, nor to endure being entangled; from which, having hated the disorder of the one, and having longed for the stability of the other, deep to deep

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ἀλλ᾿ ὡς αὐτοῦ ἀληθῶς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου, τοῦ ἑνός τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος, ἐξ αὐτῆς κατά σύλληψιν ἄῤῥητον σαρκωθέντος, καί τελείως ἐνανθρωπήσαντος.

Ταύτας οὕτω τούς ἰδίους ἡ ἁγία τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησία τάς φωνάς εὐσεβῶς καί λέγειν καί νοεῖν διδάξασα, τῷ Θείῳ καί λαμπρῷ τῆς γνώσεως φωτί φυλάττεσθαι ἐνεχείρισε· παρακαλοῦσα διά τε Προφητῶν καί Ἀποστόλων, καί αὐτοῦ τοῦ τοῖς ἰδίοις παθήμασιν αὐτήν συμπηξαμένου τε καί ἁρμοσαμένου Χριστοῦ, πρόσφορόν τε καί πρέποντα τῷ μεγάλῳ τῆς πίστεως ἐπαγγέλματι βίον ἀναλαβεῖν· Σκοποῦντας τί τό θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ τό ἀγαθόν καί εὐάρεστον καί τέλειον· καί εἰς αὐτό ἀγρυπνοῦντας. Οὐχ ἦττον γάρ εὐσεβοῦς πίστεως ἀρίστης χρήζειν ἐδιδάχθημαεν πολιτείας πρός τό τυχεῖν τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς· μήπως τῷ θεμελίῳ τῆς πίστεως τά μή ἐπιβάλλοντα ἐποικοδομήσαντες, διά πονηρῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων, ὡς τήν κλῆσιν, καί τήν χάριν τῆς υἱοθεσίας ὑβρίσαντες, ἀντί χαρᾶς καί δόξης ἀτελευτήτου, αἰωνίου πυρός ὑποδίκους ἑαυτούς καταστήσωμεν.

Πολλάς οὖν ὁρῶντες ὁδούς ἀρετῶν, εὐλογημένοι, καί τῆς μακαρίας Χριστοῦ καλλονῆς σώφροντες ἐρασταί, παρά τοῦ Κυρίου τῶν ὅλων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δεδωρημένας, ἕνα τε τόν σκοπόν ἐχούσας, καί πρός ἕν τάς πάσας τέλος καταντώσας εἰς σωτηρίαν, μή ἀμελήσωμεν τῆς ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίας, μηδέ προώμεθα τόν καιρόν τόν ἐπί μετανοίᾳ ἡμῖν δεδομένον, οὗ πάλιν ἐπιτυχεῖν ἀμήχανον. (15Β_220> Ἀλλά πρίν πορευθῆναι, καθά πού φησιν ὁ μέγας Ἰώβ, ὅθεν οὐκ ἀναστρέψομεν, εἰς γῆν σκοτεινήν καί γνοφεράν, εἰς γῆν σκότους αἰωνίου, οὗ οὐκ ἔστι φέγγος, οὐδέ ὁρᾷν ζωήν βροτῶν, σπουδάσωμεν τόν Θεόν ἱλεώσασθαι κατά τήν ἑαυτοῦ ἕκαστος δύναμιν. Πρός γάρ τό ποικίλον καί διάφορον τῶν καταστάσεων τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν, ὡς ἀγαθός, πολλάς εἰκότως εἶναι καί τάς ὁδούς πρός τάς αἰωνίους μονάς ἀγούσας τούς δι᾿ αὐτῶν ὁδεύοντας ἀμέμπτως πεποίηκεν, ὅπως τήν ἑαυτῷ πρόσφορον ἐπιλεξάμενος ἕκαστος, καί τόν δρόμον τοῦ βίου δι᾿ αὐτῆς ποιησάμενος, τόν ἐν οὐρανοῖς κατ᾿ ἐλπίδας προκείμενον πανένδοξον καταλήψοιτο χῶρον.

Τοιγαροῦν καθώς ἔχομεν δυνάμεως συνεργείᾳ καί χάριτι Χριστοῦ, τῶν καθηκόντως ἁψώμεθα. Ἐπικουφίσωμεν συμπαθῶς τοῦ πένητος τήν συμφοράν, καί μετριωτέραν αὐτῷ καταστῆσαι τήν ἔνδειαν μή 0505 ἀμελήσωμεν. Τῶν γυμνῶν περιστεῖλαι τήν γύμνωσιν, τό δοθέν ἡμῖν αἰδούμενοι τῆς ἀφθαρσίας ἔνδυμα μή ἀναβαλώμεθα. Τοῖς ἐν κακώσει φρουρᾶς τρυχομένοις καί ἀσθενείᾳ σώματος, καί βάρει ξενητείας πιεζομένοις συναλγήσωμεν, καί τά δυσχερῆς τῶν ἄλλων οἰκειοῦσθαι σπουδάσωμεν· ἵνα τόν Τάς ἀσθενείας ἡμῶν ἀναλαβόντα, καί τάς νόσους βαστάσαντα, περί τό ὁμόφυλον μιμησάμενοι, καί τήν αὐτοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς φιλάνθρωπον κένωσιν τοῖς ἔργοις τιμήσαντες, τῆς αὐτοῦ καί ἡμεῖς ἄξιοι γενέσθαι δυνηθῶμεν ἐπόπται δόξης καί μέτοχοι· μή δόξης ἕνεκεν τῆς παρά τῶν ἀνθρώπων ταῦτα ἐπιτηδεύοντες, ἧς μετά τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν ὑφέστηκε πρός ἀποδοχῆς λόγον, οὐδέν· ἀλλ᾿ ὅλου Θεοῦ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ γενόμενοι, καί ὡς αὐτόν πάντα πᾶσι καί ὄντα καί γινόμενον διά τῆς εἰς ἀλλήλους φιλανθρωπίας θεραπεύοντες, πάντα καί λέγωμεν καί πράττωμεν, δι᾿ ὧν αὐτῷ εὐαρεστήσομεν. Οὕτω γάρ ταῖς κατά μέρους εἰς ἀρετήν προκοπαῖς, (15Β_222> καί τήν θείαν ποτέ μετελθεῖν δεόντως φιλοσοφίαν, σύν Θεῷ φᾶναι δυνησόμεθα· καί πρός τόν ἄνω βίον μεθαρμοσθῆναι, πάντων καταφρονήσαντες τῶν ἐπί γῆς· κρεῖττον καί τιμιώτερον τήν ἐσχάτης ἔχειν παρά Θεῷ μᾶλλον ἡγούμενοι τάξιν, ἤ παρά τῷ κάτω βασιλεῖ τά πρῶτα φέρειν τῶν ἐπί γῆς· καθ᾿ ἥν ἑαυτοῖς προσλαβεῖν ἀρχόμενοι, καί καθ᾿ ἡσυχίαν ἡρέμα τά τῆς ψυχῆς αἰσθητήρια ἐμφρόνως ὁρᾷν τήν κτίσιν ἐθίσαντες, κέρδος μέγιστον ἀπενεγκώμεθα, τό καλῶς ὁδηγηθῆναι διά τῆς τῶν ὁρατῶν ταραχῆς καί ἀστασίας, ἐπί τά ἑστῶτα καί μή κινούμενα· ἀλλά μή ἐναπομένειν αὐτοῖς, καί ἐνεσχεθῆναι ἀνέχεσθαι· ἐξ οὗ, τῶν μέν τό ἄτακτον μισήσαντες· τῶν δέ τό βάσιμον ποθήσαντες, ἀβύσσῳ ἄβυσσον