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For, being spiritually bound to them by holy love in the Holy Spirit, he would not even choose to enter the kingdom of heaven and be separated from them. O holy bond, O ineffable power, O soul of heavenly mindset, or rather, to say, God-bearing and exceedingly perfected in the love of God and of neighbor!

Therefore, he who has not yet attained to this love, nor has seen a trace of it in his own soul nor perceived its presence at all, is still by nature hidden in the earth and in the things in the earth, or rather, under the earth, like the so-called mole-rat, being blind, that is, himself like that creature and only hearing by ear those who speak on the earth. O the calamity, that having been born of God and made immortal, partakers of a heavenly calling and heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ and citizens of heaven, (162) we have not yet received a perception of so many good things; but without perception, so to speak, just as iron is cast into the fire or as a lifeless hide is dipped unfeelingly in crimson dye, so we also, being still in the midst of so many good things of God, are disposed, confessing that we have no perception in ourselves. And we put on airs as though already saved and numbered among the saints, shaping and adorning ourselves and feigning holiness, as if living miserably on an orchestra or a stage, we are like mimes and prostitutes, who, not having natural beauty, foolishly think to adorn themselves with cosmetics and foreign dyes. But the characteristics of the saints who are born from above are not such.

But it is necessary to know that just as an infant when it comes forth from its mother's womb, it imperceptibly feels this air and is immediately and automatically moved to weeping and lamentation, so also he who has been born from above and has come forth from this world as from a dark womb, and has entered into the intelligible and heavenly light and has, as it were, peered a little inside it, is immediately filled with ineffable joy and pours forth tears without pain, understanding, it is likely, from what he was delivered and in what sort of light he was deemed worthy to be; for this is the beginning of one's being numbered among Christians. But those who have not yet come into the knowledge and vision of such a good, nor have sought it with much persistence and with lamentations and tears, so that being purified through such actions they might attain it and, being perfectly united to it, they might have communion with it, (163) tell me, can they be called Christians at all? For they are not as they should be. For if that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, he who has been born bodily and has become a man, but has never understood or believed or been zealous that he ought to be born spiritually, how then can he become spiritual and number himself with spiritual men, unless secretly, like the one clothed in filthy garments, he inserts himself among the saints who wear shining robes, and having reclined with them at the royal table, he might be cast out with his hands and feet bound, as one who is not a son of light but of flesh and blood, and be sent to the eternal fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels? For he who received authority to become a son of God and an heir of the kingdom of heaven and of eternal good things, who learned in many ways through what sort of works and commandments he ought to be raised to this honor and glory, and despising all these things, but preferring earthly and perishable things and choosing a swinish life and considering fleeting glory to be better than eternal glory, how will he not be justly separated from all the faithful and be condemned with the unfaithful along with the devil himself?

Therefore I beseech all of you, brothers and fathers, be zealous while there is time and we are among the living, struggle to become sons of God, to be called children of light—for the birth from above gives us these things—, hate the world and the things in the world, (164) hate the flesh and the passions born from it, hate every

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ἁγίᾳ γάρ ἀγάπῃ ἐν Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι πνευματικῶς αὐτοῖς συνδεθείς, οὐδέ εἰς αὐτήν τήν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν εἰσελθεῖν προῃρεῖτο καί χωρισθῆναι αὐτῶν. Ὤ δεσμός ἅγιος, ὤ δύναμις ἄφατος, ὤ ψυχῆς οὐρανόφρονος, μᾶλλον δέ εἰπεῖν θεοφορουμένης καί ἐν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγάπῃ καί τῇ τοῦ πλησίον σφόδρα τετελειωμένης!

Ὁ τοίνυν εἰς ταύτην οὔπω πεφθακώς τήν ἀγάπην, μηδέ ἴχνος αὐτῆς ἐν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῇ θεασάμενος μηδέ τήν παρουσίαν αὐτῆς ὅλως ἐπαισθανθείς, ἔτι τῇ γῇ καί τοῖς ἐν τῇ γῇ μᾶλλον δέ ὑπό γῆν κρύπτεσθαι πέφυκεν, ὥσπερ ὁ λεγόμενος ἀσπάλαξ, τυφλός δηλαδή ὤν καί αὐτός ὡς ἐκεῖνος καί μόνῃ τῇ ἀκοῇ τῶν ἐπί γῆς λαλούντων ἐπακρουώμενος. Ὤ τῆς συμφορᾶς, ὅτι ἐκ Θεοῦ γεννηθέντες καί ἀπαθανατισθέντες ἐπουρανίου τε κλήσεως μέτοχοι καί κληρονόμοι Θεοῦ καί συγκληρονόμοι Χριστοῦ καί πολῖται τῶν οὐρανῶν γενόμενοι, (162) αἴσθησιν οὔπω τῶν τοσούτων ἐλάβομεν ἀγαθῶν· ἀλλ᾿ ἀναισθήτως, ἵν᾿ οὕτως εἴπω, ὥσπερ σίδηρος ἐμβάλλεται τῷ πυρί ἤ ὡς ἄψυχον δέρμα ἐμβάπτεται ἀνεπαισθήτως κοκκίνῃ βαφῇ, οὕτω καί ἡμεῖς ἔτι ἐν τοῖς τοσούτοις ἀγαθοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ μέσον ὄντες διακείμεθα, μηδεμίαν αἴσθησιν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἔχειν ὁμολογοῦντες. Καί ὡς ἤδη σεσωσμένοι καί τοῖς ἁγίοις κατειλεγμένοι ἐνσεμνυνόμεθα, σχηματιζόμενοί τε καί κοσμούμενοι καί τήν ἁγιωσύνην ὑποκρινόμενοι, ὡς ἐπί ὀρχήστρας ἤ σκηνῆς ἀθλίως βοιοῦντες, τοῖς μίμοις καί ταῖς πόρναις ἐξομοιούμεθα, αἵ τό φυσικόν οὐκ ἔχουσαι κάλλος ἐπιτρίμμασι καί βαφαῖς ξέναις ἑαυτάς κοσμεῖν ἀφρόνως οἴονται. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐχί καί τῶν ἁγίων τῶν ἄνωθεν γεννωμένων οἱ χαρακτῆρες τοιοῦτοι.

Χρεών δέ εἰδέναι, ὅτι ὥσπερ τό βρέφος ὅταν τῆς μητρικῆς νηδύος προέλθοι, τοῦ ἀέρος τούτου ἀνεπαισθήτως αἰσθάνεται καί εὐθέως πρός κλαυθμόν καί θρῆνον αὐτομάτως κινεῖται, οὕτω καί ὁ γεννηθείς ἄνωθεν καί ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου μέν τούτου ὡς ἐκ νηδύος σκοτεινῆς προελθών, εἰσελθών δέ εἰς τό νοητόν καί οὐράνιον φῶς καί οἱονεί προκύψας ἔνδον τούτου μικρόν, εὐθύς χαρᾶς ἀφάτου πληροῦται καί δάκρυα ἀνωδύνως προχέει, ἐννοῶν, τό εἰκός, ὅθεν ἐρρύσθη καί ἐν οἵῳ γενέσθαι κατηξιώθη φωτί· ἀρχή γάρ τοῦ εἰς χριστιανούς καταλεγῆναί τινα τοῦτό ἐστιν. Οἱ δέ γε τοῦ τοιούτου καλοῦ ἐν γνώσει καί θεωρίᾳ μήπω γενόμενοι, μηδέ ζητήσαντες αὐτό ἐν ἐπιμονῇ πολλῇ καί θρήνοις καί δάκρυσιν, ἵνα διά τῶν τοιούτων πράξεων καθαρθέντες τύχωσιν αὐτοῦ καί τέλεον ἑνωθέντες αὐτῷ κοινωνίαν σχῶσι μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ, (163) εἰπέ, χριστιανοί καθόλου κληθῶσιν; Οὐκ εἰσί γάρ ὡς χρή. Εἰ γάρ τό γεννώμενον ἐκ τῆς σαρκός σάρξ ἐστι καί τό γεννώμενον ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος πνεῦμά ἐστιν, ὁ σωματικῶς γεννηθείς καί ἀνήρ γεγονώς, πνευματικῶς δέ μηδέ ὅτι γε ὀφείλει γεννηθῆναι ἐννοήσας ἤ πιστεύσας ἤ σπουδάσας ποτέ, πῶς ἄρα πνευματικός γένηται καί πνευματικοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἑαυτόν συναριθμήσειεν, εἰ μή λάθρᾳ, ὡς ὁ τά ῥυπαρά ἱμάτια ἐνδεδυμένος, ἑαυτόν παρενείρει τοῖς λαμπροφοροῦσιν ἁγίοις, καί ἐπί τῆς βασιλικῆς τραπέζης μετ᾿ αὐτῶν συνανακλιθείς ἔξω βληθείη χεῖρας καί πόδας δεθείς, ὡς μή φωτός υἱός ἀλλά σαρκός καί αἵματος, καί παραπεμφθείη τῷ αἰωνίῳ πυρί, τῷ ἡτοιμασμένῳ τῷ διαβόλῳ καί τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ; Ὁ γάρ λαβών ἐξουσίαν υἱός γενέσθαι Θεοῦ βασιλείας τε οὐρανῶν καί αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν κληρονόμος, ὁ μαθών πολυτρόπως διά ποίων ἔργων και ἐντολῶν ὀφείλει εἰς ταύτην τήν τιμήν καί τήν δόξαν ἀναχθῆναι, καί τούτων μέν ἁπάντων καταφρονήσας, προτιμήσας δέ τά ἐπίγεια καί φθειρόμενα καί τόν χοιρώδη βίον προκρίνας καί τήν πρόσκαιρον δόξαν τῆς αἰωνίου δόξης κρείττονα ἡγησάμενος, πῶς οὐχί δικαίως πάντων τῶν πιστῶν χωρισθήσεται καί μετά τῶν ἀπίστων σύν αὐτῷ τῷ διαβόλῳ κατακριθήσεται;

∆ιό παρακαλῶ πάντας ὑμᾶς, ἀδελφοί καί πατέρες, σπουδάσατε ἕως καιρός ἐστι καί ἐν τοῖς ζῶσίν ἐσμεν, ἀγωνίσασθε ἵνα υἱοί Θεοῦ γένησθε, ἵνα φωτός χρηματίσητε τέκνα - ταῦτα γάρ ἡ ἄνωθεν ἡμῖν γέννησις δίδωσι , μισήσατε τόν κόσμον καί τά ἐν κόσμῳ, (164) μισήσατε τήν σάρκα καί τά ἐξ αὐτῆς τικτόμενα πάθη, μισήσατε πᾶσαν