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impious ones, you are about to be ashamed and to blush, hear what he says: And not only so, but we also glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. What is, And not only so? Not only are we saved, he says, but we also glory for this very reason, for which one thinks we should be veiled. For that we, living in so great wickedness, were saved, is the greatest sign of being intensely loved by the one who saves. For he saved not through angels or archangels, but through the Only-begotten himself. So that both to save, and to save such as we were, and to do this through the Only-begotten, and not simply through the Only-begotten, but through his blood, weaves for us countless crowns of glorying. For nothing is equal in the matter of glory and confidence to being loved by God and to loving him who loves us. This makes the angels glorious, this the principalities and the powers, this is greater than a kingdom; for this reason Paul also placed this before the kingdom; for this reason I also call the bodiless powers blessed, because they both love him and obey him in all things. For from this the prophet also admired them, saying: Mighty in strength, doing his word; from this Isaiah also proclaimed the Seraphim, showing their great virtue from their standing near that glory, which was a sign of the greatest love. 4. Let us, therefore, emulate the powers above, and let us be eager not only to stand near the throne, but also to have as an indweller him who sits upon the throne. For he loved even those who hated him, and continues loving; for He makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. But you, at least, love him who loves you; for he loves you. And how, one says, did he who loves threaten Gehenna and 60.472 punishment and vengeance? For this very reason of loving; for by cutting out your wickedness, and by holding back your rush toward worse things as with some bridle of fear, he does and contrives all things, both through pleasant and through painful things, checking you from your downward course, and bringing you back to himself and leading you away from all evil, which is more grievous than Gehenna. But if you laugh at what has been said, and wish to live in wickedness ten thousand times rather than be punished for one day, it is no wonder; for this too is a sign of your imperfect judgment, and of your drunkenness and incurable disease; since even little children, when they see the physician bringing either fire or a knife, flee and jump away, wailing and being convulsed, and would rather perish in the continual decay of the body than endure a temporary pain to enjoy health afterward. But those who have sense know that being sick is more grievous than being cut, just as being in a bad state is worse than being punished; for the one is to be healed and to be healthy, but the other is to perish and to be in continual sickness. And that health is better than sickness is surely clear to everyone; since it is right to weep for robbers not when their sides are being pierced, but when they are breaking through walls and murdering. For if the soul is better than the body, as it certainly is better, it is more just to groan and lament when it is perishing; and if it should not feel it, for this reason one must mourn it all the more. For it is right to pity those who love a licentious love more than those with a severe fever, and the drunken more than the tortured. And if these things are more grievous, he says, why do we choose them more? Because for many people, according to the proverb, worse things are pleasing, and they choose these, passing by the better. Which can be seen in foods, and in ways of life, and in the zealous pursuits of lives, and in the enjoyment of pleasure, and in women, and in houses, and in slaves, and in fields, and occurring in all other things. For what is more pleasant, tell me, to have intercourse with women or with males? With women or with mules? But yet we will find many passing by women, but having intercourse with irrational animals, and committing outrage upon the bodies of males, although the things according to nature are more pleasant than those contrary to nature. But yet there are many who pursue the ridiculous and unpleasant and punishable things as if they were pleasant.

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ἀσεβεῖς, μέλλῃς αἰσχύνεσθαι καὶ ἐρυθριᾷν, ἄκουσον τί φησιν· Οὐ μόνον δὲ, ἀλλὰ καὶ καυχώμενοι ἐν τῷ Θεῷ διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δι' οὗ νῦν τὴν καταλλαγὴν ἐλάβομεν. Τί ἐστιν, Οὐ μόνον δέ; Οὐ μόνον ἐσώθημεν, φησὶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ καυχώμεθα δι' αὐτὸ τοῦτο, δι' ὃ νομίζει τις ἡμᾶς ἐγκαλύπτεσθαι. Τὸ γὰρ ἐν τοσαύτῃ πονηρίᾳ ζῶντας ἡμᾶς σωθῆναι, τοῦ σφόδρα ἀγαπηθῆναι παρὰ τοῦ σώζοντος μέγιστον σημεῖόν ἐστιν. Οὐ γὰρ δι' ἀγγέλων ἢ ἀρχαγγέλων, ἀλλὰ δι' αὐτοῦ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἔσωσεν. Ὥστε καὶ τὸ σῶσαι, καὶ τὸ τοιούτους ὄντας σῶσαι, καὶ τὸ διὰ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, καὶ οὐδὲ ἁπλῶς διὰ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς, ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ, μυρίους ἡμῖν καυχήσεως πλέκει στεφάνους. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἴσον εἰς δόξης λόγον καὶ παῤῥησίας τοῦ φιλεῖσθαι παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ φιλεῖν αὐτὸν τὸν ἀγαπῶντα. Τοῦτο τοὺς ἀγγέλους ποιεῖ λαμπροὺς, τοῦτο τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις, τοῦτο βασιλείας μεῖζον· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ Παῦλος πρὸ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦτο ἐτίθει· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὰς ἀσωμάτους μακαρίζω δυνάμεις, ὅτι καὶ φιλοῦσιν αὐτὸν, καὶ πάντα ὑπακούουσιν. Ἐντεῦθεν γοῦν αὐτοὺς καὶ ὁ προφήτης ἐθαύμαζε, λέγων· ∆υνατοὶ ἰσχύϊ ποιοῦντες τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ· ἐντεῦθεν καὶ τὰ Σεραφὶμ ὁ Ἡσαΐας ἀνεκήρυττε, τὴν μεγάλην αὐτῶν ἐνδεικνύμενος ἀρετὴν ἐκ τοῦ ἑστάναι πλησίον τῆς δόξης ἐκείνης, ὅπερ μεγίστης ἀγάπης σημεῖον ἦν. δʹ. Ζηλώσωμεν τοίνυν καὶ ἡμεῖς τὰς ἄνω δυνάμεις, καὶ μὴ μόνον ἐγγὺς τοῦ θρόνου στῆναι σπουδάσωμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔνοικον αὐτὸν ἔχειν τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου καθήμενον. Ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ καὶ μισοῦντας ἐφίλησε, καὶ φιλῶν διατελεῖ· καὶ γὰρ Τὸν ἥλιον ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς, καὶ βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους. Σὺ δὲ φιλοῦντα γοῦν ἀγάπησον· φιλεῖ γάρ. Καὶ πῶς, φησὶν, ὁ φιλῶν γέενναν καὶ 60.472 κόλασιν καὶ τιμωρίαν ἠπείλησε; ∆ι' αὐτὸ τοῦτο τὸ φιλεῖν· καὶ γὰρ ἐκκόπτων σου τὴν πονηρίαν, καὶ ὥσπερ τινὶ χαλινῷ τῷ φόβῳ κατέχων σου τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω ῥύμην, πάντα ποιεῖ καὶ πραγματεύεται, καὶ διὰ τῶν χρηστῶν καὶ διὰ τῶν λυπηρῶν ἀναστέλλων σε τῆς ἐπὶ τὰ κάτω φορᾶς, καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπανάγων καὶ ἀπάγων κακίας πάσης, ἣ γεέννης ἐστὶ χαλεπωτέρα. Εἰ δὲ γελᾷς ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰρημένοις, καὶ μυριάκις ἐν πονηρίᾳ ζῇν ἐθέλεις, ἢ μίαν κολάζεσθαι ἡμέραν, θαυμαστὸν οὐδέν· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτό σου τῆς ἀτελοῦς γνώμης σημεῖον, καὶ τῆς μέθης καὶ τῆς ἀνιάτου νόσου· ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ παιδία τὰ μικρὰ ὅταν ἴδῃ τὸν ἰατρὸν ἢ πῦρ ἢ τομὴν ἐπάγοντα, φεύγει καὶ ἀποπηδᾷ ὀλολύζοντα καὶ σπαραττόμενα, καὶ μᾶλλον αἱρεῖται διηνεκεῖ σηπεδόνι σώματος ἐναπολέσθαι, ἢ πρόσκαιρον ὑπομείναντα πόνον, τῆς μετὰ ταῦτα ἀπολαύειν ὑγείας. Οἱ δὲ νοῦν ἔχοντες ἴσασιν, ὅτι τὸ νοσεῖν τοῦ τέμνεσθαι χαλεπώτερον, ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ κακῶς εἶναι τοῦ κολάζεσθαι χεῖρον· τὸ μὲν γὰρ θεραπεύεσθαι καὶ ὑγιαίνειν ἐστὶ, τὸ δὲ ἀπόλλυσθαι καὶ ἐν ἀῤῥωστίᾳ εἶναι διηνεκεῖ. Ὅτι δὲ ἀῤῥωστίας ὑγεία βέλτιον, παντί που δῆλον· ἐπεὶ καὶ τοὺς λῃστὰς, οὐχ ὅταν διορύττωνται τὰς πλευρὰς, δακρύειν ἄξιον, ἀλλ' ὅταν διορύττωσι τοίχους καὶ φονεύωσιν. Εἰ γὰρ βέλτιον ψυχὴ σώματος, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ βέλτιον, ταύτης ἀπολλυμένης, μᾶλλον στένειν δίκαιον καὶ ὀδύρεσθαι· εἰ δὲ μὴ αἰσθάνοιτο, καὶ ταύτῃ μειζόνως αὐτὴν πενθεῖν δεῖ. Καὶ γὰρ τοὺς ἐρῶντας ἀκόλαστον ἔρωτα τῶν πυρεττόντων χαλεπῶς μᾶλλον ἐλεεῖν ἄξιον, καὶ τοὺς μεθύοντας τῶν βασανιζομένων. Καὶ εἰ ταῦτα χαλεπώτερα, φησὶ, διὰ τί μᾶλλον αὐτὰ αἱρούμεθα; Ὅτι πολλοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν, ἀρέσκει τὰ χείρω, καὶ ταῦτα αἱροῦνται, τὰ ἀμείνω παρατρέχοντες. Ὅπερ καὶ ἐν ἐδέσμασιν ὁρᾷν ἔστι, καὶ ἐν πολιτείαις, καὶ ἐν ζήλοις βίων, καὶ ἐν ἡδονῆς ἀπολαύσει, καὶ ἐν γυναιξὶ, καὶ ἐν οἰκίαις, καὶ ἐν ἀνδραπόδοις, καὶ ἐν ἀγροῖς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων γινόμενον. Τί γὰρ ἥδιον, εἰπέ μοι, γυναιξὶν ἢ ἄῤῥεσι μίγνυσθαι; γυναιξὶν ἢ ἡμιόνοις; Ἀλλ' ὅμως πολλοὺς εὑρήσομεν γυναῖκας μὲν παρατρέχοντας, ἀλόγοις δὲ μιγνυμένους, καὶ ἀῤῥένων σώμασιν ἐνυβρίζοντας, καίτοι τὰ κατὰ φύσιν τῶν παρὰ φύσιν ἡδίω. Ἀλλ' ὅμως εἰσὶ πολλοὶ τὰ καταγέλαστα καὶ ἀηδῆ καὶ κόλασιν ἔχοντα ὡς ἡδέα διώκοντες.