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deprived of heavenly goods. Do not prefer (149) any of the earthly things anymore, nor let any desire for corruptible things overcome you, lest you be stripped of the glory with which you were glorified by Christ and, as one not clothed in a wedding garment, you will be bound hand and foot and cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Faith in Christ is the new paradise. For this reason also He foreknew before the foundation of the world all those who have believed and are to believe in Him; whom He also called and until the consummation will not cease calling, and glorified and will glorify, and justified and will justify, making them conformed, that is, to the glory of the image of His Son through holy baptism and the grace of the Spirit, mystically making them all sons of God and restoring them as new from old and from mortal to immortal and giving them commandments, as He once did to Adam. Therefore, as many as keep all His commandments until death, these both demonstrate their love for God and ascend to a greater glory according to their progress. But as many as are found to be despisers and negligent and ungrateful toward their benefactor and do not keep the commandments given by Him, fall away from such good things, as Adam did from paradise, suffering this not because they were not foreknown by God, but from their own foolishness and wickedness. For this very reason, God also placed in the midst of this paradise the saving remedy, repentance, so that those who fall away from eternal life through indolence and negligence might, through repentance, return to it again with a more brilliant and manifest glory; for if the philanthropic God had not built this, no flesh would have been saved.

(150) Therefore, leaving aside all other care, let us attend to repentance with all our might, so that we may obtain both the present and the future good things by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen.

DISCOURSE III (151)

On the saying of the Apostle in which he says: "And I knew such a man, caught up to the third heaven and hearing unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to hear." What then are the unspeakable words which Paul heard? And what are the good things "which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and have not entered into the heart of man"? And what or how will and is the kingdom of God for us, and what is its energy within us?

Since the Master of all things clearly, every day through the

Gospels cries out, saying some things obscurely, when He speaks in parables, but interpreting them privately to His own disciples, saying thus: "To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables," and at times He says all things openly and revealed to all of us, as the apostles say to him: "Behold," they say, "now You are speaking plainly and using no figure of speech," it is necessary to seek and to learn which things were spoken plainly and unveiled, and which in parables by the Lord and God. The clear and unveiled things of the commandments, then, are when the Evangelist says: "The Lord said: love your enemies,

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οὐρανίων στερούμενος ἀγαθῶν. Μή προτιμήσῃς ἔτι (149) τῶν ἐπιγείων τινός μηδέ ἐπιθυμία τις τῶν φθειρομένων κατακρατήσῃ σου, ἵνα γυμνωθῇς τῆς δόξης ἧς ἐδοξάσθης παρά Χριστοῦ καί ὡς μή ἐνδεδυμένος ἔνδυμα γάμου δεθήσῃ χεῖρας καί πόδας καί ἐκβληθήσῃ εἰς τό σκότος τό ἐξώτερον ἐν ᾧ ὑπάρχει ὁ κλαυθμός καί ὁ βρυγμός τῶν ὀδόντων.

Ἡ εἰς Χριστόν πίστις ὁ νέος ἐστί παράδεισος. ∆ιό καί προέγνω πρό καταβολῆς κόσμου πάντας τούς πιστεύσαντας καί πιστεῦσαι ὀφείλοντας εἰς αὐτον· οὕς καί ἐκάλεσε καί μέχρι συντελείας καλῶν οὐ παύσεται, καί ἐδόξασε καί δοξάσει, καί ἐδικαίωσε καί δικαιώσει, συμμόρφους δηλονότι τῆς δόξης τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ Υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ διά τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος καί τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριτος ἀποδεικνύων αὐτούς, υἱούς Θεοῦ πάντας αὐτούς μυστικῶς ἐργαζόμενος καί καινούς ἀπό παλαιῶν καί ἐκ θνητῶν ἀθανάτους αὐτούς ἀποκαθιστῶν καί διδούς αὐτοῖς ἐντολάς, καθώς ποτε τῷ Ἀδάμ. Ὅσοι τοιγαροῦν μέχρι θανάτου πάσας τάς αὐτοῦ ἐντολάς φυλαξουσιν, οὗτοι καί τήν πρός Θεόν ἀγάπην ἐπιδείκνυνται καί εἰς μείζονα κατά προκοπήν δόξαν ἀνέρχονται. Ὅσοι δέ καταφρονηταί καί ἀμελεῖς καί ἀγνώμονες περί τόν εὐεργέτην ὀφθῶσι καί τάς δοθείσας παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐντολάς οὐ φυλάξουσι, τῶν τοιούτων ἀγαθῶν, ὡς ὁ Ἀδάμ τοῦ παραδείσου, ἐκπίπτουσι, οὐχί παρά τό μή προεγνῶσθαι αὐτούς παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀλλ᾿ ἐξ οἰκείας ἀφροσύνης καί πονηρίας τοῦτο πανθάνοντες. ∆ιά δή τοῦτο καί μέσον τοῦ παραδείσου τούτου προέθετο ὁ Θεός τό σωτήριον φάρμακον, τήν μετάνοιαν, ὡς ἄν οἱ ἐκ ῥᾳθυμίας καί ἀμελείας ἐκπίπτοντες τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς διά τῆς μετανοίας πάλιν μετά λαμπροτέρας καί περιφανεστέρας δόξης εἰς αὐτήν ἐπανέρχωνται· εἰ μή γάρ τοῦτο ὁ φιλάνθρωπος Θεός ᾠκοδόμησεν, οὐκ ἄν ἐσώθη πᾶσα σάρξ.

(150) Τοίνυν καί πᾶσαν ἄλλην μέριμναν καταλιπόντες, τῆς μετανοίας ὅση δύναμις ἐπιμελησώμεθα, ἵνα καί τῶν παρόντων καί τῶν μελλόντων ἐπιτύχωμεν ἀγαθῶν χάριτι καί φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ᾧ ἡ δόξα καί τό κράτος εἰς τούς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων· ἀμήν.

ΛΟΓΟΣ Γ΄ (151)

Εἰς το ῥητόν τοῦ Ἀποστόλου ἐν ᾧ λέγει· "Καί εἶδον τόν τοιοῦτον εἰς τρίτον οὐρανόν ἁρπαγέντα καί ἀκούσαντα ἄρρητα ῥήματα ἅ οὐκ ἐξόν ἀνθρώπῳ ἀκοῦσαι". Τί οὖν εἰσιν ἅ ἀκήκοεν ὁ Παῦλος ἄρρητα ῥήματα; Τίνα δέ τά ἀγαθά "ἅ ὀφθαλμός οὐκ εἶδε καί οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε καί ἐπί καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη"; Τίς δέ ἤ πῶς ἔσται καί ἔστιν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλεία καί τίς ἡ ἐν ἡμῖν ταύτης ἐνέργεια;

Ἐπειδήπερ διαρρήδην ὁ τόν ἁπάντων ∆εσπότης καθ᾿ ἑκάστην διά τῶν

εὐαγγελίων βοᾷ, τά μέν συνεσκιασμένως λέγων, ὅταν ἐν παραβολαῖς διαλέγηται, τά δέ διερμηνεύων κατ᾿ ἰδίαν τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς, οὕτω λέγων· "Ὑμῖν δέδοται γνῶναι τά μυστήρια τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῖς δέ λοιποῖς ἐν παραβολαῖς", καί ποτε παρρησίᾳ πάντα καί ἀποκεκαλυμμένα λέγει πρός πάντας ἡμᾶς, ὥς φασι πρός αὐτόν οἱ ἀπόστολοι· "Ἴδε, φασί, παρρησίᾳ λαλεῖς καί παροιμίαν οὐδεμίαν λέγεις", ζητῆσαι χρεών καί μαθεῖν ποῖα τά παρρησίᾳ καί ἀπογεγυμνωμένα, ποῖα δέ ἐν παραβολαῖς ὑπό τοῦ Κυρίου καί Θεοῦ εἰρημένα. Τά μέν οὖν δῆλα τῶν ἐντολῶν καί γυμνά εἰσιν ὅταν ὁ Εὐγγελιστής λέγῃ· "Εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος· ἀγαπᾶτε τούς ἐχθρούς ὑμῶν,