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But he blesses the pure in heart, saying that they will see God here. But all the Apostles and teachers cry out that we receive from here both the Spirit and Christ Himself, (113) if we are to be saved. Hear the voice of the Master, hear the words of the Word, how he shows that men receive the kingdom of heaven from here. “It is likened,” he says, “to a pearl of great price.” But when you hear “pearl,” what do you suppose it is? Do you say that this is a stone that can be held at all or seen in any way? Away with the blasphemy! For it is spiritual. But a merchant having found this, tell me now, how did he find it, if it is ungraspable, if it happens to be invisible? Where then did he find it at all, how did he see it, teach me. And how, having sold everything, did he purchase that which he did not find, which he did not see, which he did not have in his hands, nor even receive it in his bosom? Will you teach me that he will be disposed as if having it by faith and hope alone? But the Master did not say, as you suppose, to sell one's possessions in the hope of finding it (114) or in the hope of obtaining it. Why are you deceived, why do you rely on vain hopes? Why do you wish in vain to become for others a cause of destruction, and for yourselves of severe punishment, by being persuaded? But he counsels you first to find the pearl,

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Καθαρούς δέ τῇ καρδίᾳ μακαρίζει, λέγων τούτους ὄψεσθαι Θεόν ἐνταῦθα. Οἱ Ἀπόστολοι δέ πάντες καί διδάσκαλοι βοῶσιν ἀπεντεῦθεν καί τό Πνεῦμα καί Χριστόν αὐτόν λαμβάνειν, (113) εἴπερ μέλλοιμεν σωθῆναι. Ἄκουσον φωνάς ∆εσπότου, ἄκουσον τοῦ Λόγου λόγους, πῶς δηλοῖ τήν βασιλείαν τήν τῶν οὐρανῶν λαμβάνειν ἀπεντεῦθεν τούς ἀνθρώπους. «Ὡμοιώθη, λέγων, αὕτη μαργαρίτῃ πολυτίμῳ˙» μαργαρίτην δέ ἀκούσας ἆρα τί ὑπολαμβάνεις; Λίθον εἶναι λέγεις τοῦτον ἤ κρατούμενον κἄν ὅλως ἤ ὁρώμενον ποσῶς δέ; Ἄπαγε τῆς βλασφημίας! Νοητός καί γάρ ὑπάρχει, Ἔμπορος εὑρών δέ τοῦτον, πῶς ἐφεῦρεν, ἄρτι λέξον, εἰ ἀκράτητος ὑπάρχει, εἰ ἀόρατος τυγχάνει; Ποῦ οὖν τοῦτον ὅλως εὗρε, πῶς κατεῖδε, δίδαξόν με. Πῶς δέ ἅπαντα πωλήσας ἐξωνήσατο ἐκεῖνον, ὅν οὐχ εὗρεν, ὅν οὐκ εἶδεν, ὅν οὐκ ἔσχεν ἐπί χεῖρας, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδ᾿ ἔλαβεν ἐν κόλπῳ; Πίστει δέ με μόνῃ πάντως καί ἐλπίδι ὥσπερ ἔχων διακείσεται, διδάξεις; Ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ εἶπεν ὁ ∆εσπότης, ὥσπερ σύ ὑπολαμβάνεις, οὐδ᾿ ἐλπίσι τοῦ εὑρέσθαι (114) οὐδ᾿ ἐλπίσι τοῦ λαβέσθαι τά ὑπάρχοντα πωλῆσαι. Τί πλανᾶσθε, τί ματαίαις ἐπερείδεσθε ἐλπίσι; Τί καί ἄλλοις ἀπωλείας, ἑαυτοῖς τε τιμωρίας αἴτιοι σφοδρᾶς γενέσθαι μάτην βούλεσθε πεισθεῖσιν; Ἀλλά πρότερον εὑρεῖν σοι παραινεῖ τόν μαργαρίτην,