56

having bound righteousness, having bound the Savior, having bound the physician, having bound the liberator (all of which Christ is, according to the various conceptions of him), they are deprived of light, they are deprived of the Word, they are deprived of truth; they live with injustice, they suffer from incurable diseases. These are the offspring of the works which they eat. 3.115 Woe to the lawless one. Evil things according to the works of his hands will happen to him. We say that these things have been said concerning the divine judgment, which repays to each according to his worth. But if for this reason: "Woe to the lawless one, because evil things according to his works will happen to him," for one whose injustice has not proceeded to action, but was completed in the secret of the heart, will not the punishment be brought upon him, so as to apply the "Woe" to him also? Or having spoken of the perfect in evil, he left it for you to understand what is lacking by analogy. For perfect evil is to sin both in thought and in deeds; but half of the evil is for the sin to stop at the impulse of the mind. Therefore the one who sins in thought is not entirely unpunished, but by as much as the evil is lacking, by so much will his punishments be lessened. Woe therefore to the lawless one, because evil things will happen to him according to his lawless deeds and according to the works of his hands, because the hands are instruments of the thought. Therefore as the originating principle moves, so is the active principle moved. 3.116 My people, your exactors are gleaning you, and those who demand payment rule over you. The voice is of one calling back the people and sympathizing with those who are mistreated, "My people." Before you bound the Righteous One, before you rejected the benefit from him, what did you suffer? Now you have become liable for many debts. For this reason you have been handed over to those who exact the debt from you, who, since they do not find sheaves among you, nor an abundance of fruits, are gleaning you, gathering the small and worthless, broken fruits of your souls. For such are we, repenting in a mean and worthless and fruitless manner. For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. He therefore who with worthy repentance sows richly into the Spirit—alms, compassion, supplication, righteousness, constant tears—this one, sowing in tears, will reap in joy, gathering the sheaves of repentance, so as to pay the whole debt to the exactor. But he who, in repentance for past sins, sows little in alms, in prayer, nourishing a stalk barren of fruit, will not be permitted by the exactor to have even this. And who is this exactor? Let us learn from the exhortation according to the Gospel, with the Lord saying: "For as you go with your accuser to the magistrate, make an effort on the way to be released from him, lest he drag you to the Judge, and the Judge hand you over to the exactor, and the exactor throw you into prison." For understand there the accuser and the way; then the magistrate who is set over our accuser. For the way is our life; and the accuser is the power that wrestles against us and accompanies our life, contriving by every scheme to turn us from the way that leads to God; and the magistrate (the ruler of this world) about whom the Lord has said: "Now the ruler of this world is coming, and he will find nothing in me." But in the Lord he found nothing, because "He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth," he who was tempted in all things in like manner, without sin. 3.117 Therefore when he finds many things in us, dragging us along by the many chains of his sins with which we have bound ourselves, he will hand us over to the Judge. And the Judge, to whom the Father has given all judgment, receiving us after we have been convicted of many charges by the enemy and avenger, will hand us over to the exactor, the one set over the punishments; who will throw us into the prison, that is, into the place of punishment, demanding and exacting by means of painful scourges payment for even the very smallest sins committed by us with contempt. Therefore the Lord advises, while we are on the way with the accuser, to make an effort to be released from him, that is to do

56

δήσαντες τὴν δικαιοσύνην, δήσαντες τὸν Σωτῆρα, δήσαντες τὸν ἰατρὸν, δήσαντες τὸν ἐλευθερωτήν (ἅπερ πάντα ἐστὶ, κατὰ ποικίλην τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπίνοιαν, ὁ Χριστός) ἐστέρηνται φωτὸς, ἐστέρηνται λόγου, ἐστέρηνται ἀληθείας· ἀδικίᾳ συζῶσιν, ἀνίατα νοσοῦσιν. Ταῦτά ἐστι τὰ γεννή ματα τῶν ἔργων, ἃ ἐσθίουσιν. 3.115 Οὐαὶ τῷ ἀνόμῳ. Πονηρὰ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ συμβήσεται αὐτῷ. Περὶ τῆς θείας κρίσεως, τῆς ἀνταποδιδούσης ἑκάστῳ τὰ πρὸς ἀξίαν, ταῦτα εἰρῆσθαί φαμεν. Εἰ δὲ διὰ τοῦτο· Οὐαὶ τῷ ἀνόμῳ, ὅτι Πονηρὰ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ συμβήσεται αὐτῷ, ᾧ μὴ προεχώρησεν εἰς ἔργον ἡ ἀδικία, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ τῆς καρδίας συνετελέσθη, ἆρα οὐκ ἐπαχθήσεται ἡ κόλασις, ὥστε ἐφαρμόσαι τὸ Οὐαὶ καὶ αὐτῷ; Ἢ τὸ τέλειον εἰπὼν ἐν κακίᾳ, σοὶ νοεῖν τὸ λεῖπον ἐξ ἀναλογίας κατέλιπε. Τελεία μὲν γὰρ κακία, τὸ καὶ γνώμῃ καὶ πράξεσιν ἁμαρ τάνειν· ἥμισυ δὲ τοῦ κακοῦ, ἐπὶ τῆς ὁρμῆς τῆς κατὰ διά νοιαν στῆναι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. Οὐ πάντη οὖν ἀτιμώρητος ὁ κατὰ διάνοιαν ἁμαρτάνων, ἀλλ' ὅσον ἐλλείπει τοῦ κακοῦ, τοσοῦτον αὐτῷ τῶν πόνων ὑφαιρεθήσεται. Οὐαὶ οὖν τῷ ἀνό μῳ, ὅτι πονηρὰ αὐτῷ κατὰ τὰ ἀνομήματα καὶ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ συμβήσεται αὐτῷ, διότι αἱ χεῖρες ὄργανά εἰσι τῆς ἐννοίας. Ὡς ἂν οὖν κινῇ τὸ κατάρχον, οὕτω κινεῖται τὸ ἐνεργοῦν. 3.116 Λαός μου, οἱ πράκτορες ὑμῶν καλαμῶνται ὑμᾶς, καὶ οἱ ἀπαιτοῦντες κυριεύουσιν ὑμῶν. Ἀνακαλουμένου τὸν λαὸν ἡ φωνὴ καὶ συναλγοῦντος τοῖς κα κουμένοις, Λαός μου. Πρὶν δῆσαι τὸν ∆ίκαιον, πρὶν τὴν χρῆσιν αὐτοῦ παραιτήσασθαι, τί πεπόνθατε; Νῦν κατάχρεοι γεγένη σθε πολλῶν ὀφλημάτων. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τοῖς ἐκπράσσουσιν ὑμᾶς τὴν ὀφειλὴν ἔκδοτοι γεγένησθε, οἳ ἐπειδὴ δράγματα ἐν ὑμῖν οὐχ εὑρίσκουσιν, οὐδὲ καρπῶν εὐθηνίαν, καλαμῶνται ὑμᾶς, μικροὺς καὶ εὐτελεῖς, κατακεκλασμένους καρποὺς τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν ἐκλέγοντες. Τοιοῦτοι δέ ἐσμεν, μικροπρεπῶς καὶ εὐ τελῶς καὶ ἀκάρπως μετανοοῦντες. Ὃ γὰρ σπείρει ἄνθρωπος, τοῦτο καὶ θερίσει. Ὁ τοίνυν τῇ ἀξιολόγῳ μεταμελείᾳ πλου σίως σπείρων εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα, ἐλεημοσύνην, εὐσπλαγχνίαν, ἱκε σίαν, δικαιοσύνην, δάκρυον διηνηκές, οὗτος, σπείρων ἐν δάκρυ σιν, ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει θερίσει, αἴρων τῆς μετανοίας τὰ δράγματα, ὥστε τῷ πράκτορι ὅλον ἀποτίσαι τὸ χρέος. Ὁ δὲ, μεταμε λείᾳ τῶν προημαρτημένων, μικρὰ σπείρων ἐν ἐλεημοσύνῃ, ἐν προσευχῇ, ἔρημον καρποῦ καλάμην τρέφων, οὐδὲ ταύτην ὑπὸ τοῦ πράκτορος ἔχειν συγχωρηθήσεται. Τίς δὲ ὁ πράκτωρ οὗτος, ἐκ τῆς κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον παραι νέσεως διδαχθῶμεν, τοῦ Κυρίου λέγοντος· Ὡς γὰρ ὑπάγεις μετὰ τοῦ ἀντιδίκου σου ἐπ' ἄρχοντα, ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ δὸς ἐργασίαν ἀπηλλάχθαι αὐτοῦ, μήποτε κατασύρῃ σε πρὸς τὸν Κριτὴν, καὶ ὁ Κριτής σε παραδῷ τῷ πράκτορι, καὶ ὁ πράκτωρ σε βάλῃ εἰς φυλακήν. Νόησον γὰρ ἐκεῖ τὸν ἀντίδικον καὶ τὴν ὁδόν· εἶτα τὸν ἄρχοντα τὸν προεστῶτα τοῦ ἀντιδίκου ἡμῶν. Ὁδὸς μὲν γὰρ, ὁ βίος ἡμῶν· ἀντίδικος δὲ, ἡ ἀντιπαλαίουσα ἡμῖν δύναμις καὶ παρεπομένη τῷ βίῳ, πάσῃ μεθοδείᾳ μηχανω μένη ἐκτρέψαι ἡμᾶς τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν ἀγούσης ὁδοῦ· ἄρχων δὲ (ὁ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου ἄρχων) περὶ οὗ ὁ Κύριος εἴρηκε· Νῦν ἔρχεται ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, καὶ ἐν ἐμοὶ εὑ ρήσει οὐδέν. Ἀλλ' ἐν μὲν τῷ Κυρίῳ εὗρεν οὐδὲν, διότι Ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἐποίησεν, οὐδὲ εὑρέθη δόλος ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ, τῷ πεπειραμένῳ κατὰ πάντα καθ' ὁμοιότητα, χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας. 3.117 Ἐπειδὰν οὖν εὕρῃ ἐν ἡμῖν πολλὰ, πολλαῖς ἡμᾶς σειραῖς, αἷς ἑαυτοὺς κατεδήσαμεν, τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτιῶν ἐπισυρόμενος, παραδώσει τῷ Κριτῇ. Ὁ δὲ Κριτὴς, ᾧ πᾶσαν κρίσιν ἔδωκεν ὁ Πατὴρ, παρὰ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ καὶ ἐκδικητοῦ ἐλεγχθέντας ἐπὶ πολλοῖς ἐγκλήμασι παραλαβὼν παραδώσει τῷ πράκτορι, τῷ ἐπὶ τῶν κολάσεων τεταγμένῳ· ὃς βαλεῖ εἰς τὴν φυλακήν, τουτέστιν εἰς τὸν τόπον τῆς κολάσεως, δι' ἐπιπόνων μαστίγων ἀπαιτῶν καὶ ἐκπράσσων μέχρι καὶ τῶν μικροτάτων καὶ μετὰ καταφρονήσεως παρ' ἡμῶν ἁμαρ τανομένων. ∆ιὸ συμβουλεύει ὁ Κύριος, ἕως ἐσμὲν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ μετὰ τοῦ ἀντιδίκου, δοῦναι ἐργασίαν ἀπηλλάχθαι αὐ τοῦ, τουτέστι ποιεῖν