69

another God besides the one handed down by the prophets; but the God of Jacob, who in the divine utterance spoke to his servant; I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Come and see the works of God, what wonders he has set upon the earth, taking away wars to the ends of the earth. Those who are far from the word of truth the word calls to the nearness that comes through knowledge, saying; Come and see. For just as with the eyes of the body, great distances make the apprehension of things seen dim, while the approach of the observers provides clear knowledge of the things being looked at; so also with the contemplations of the mind, he who has not through works become familiar with and drawn near to God cannot see his works with the pure eyes of the intellect. For this reason, Come, draw near first, then see the works of the Lord, which are wondrous and marvelous; by which he transformed the formerly hostile and seditious nations, struck with amazement, to tranquility. Come, children, listen to me; and, Come, all you who are weary and burdened. It is a fatherly voice, calling to himself with outstretched arms those who were previously unruly. Therefore, he who has heard the call, and drawn near, and clung to the one who commanded, will see the one who made peace in all things through the cross, Whether things on earth, or things in heaven. He will break the bow, and shatter the weapon, and burn the shields with fire. Do you see the peacefulness of the Lord of hosts, that he has with him invisible powers of angelic ranks? Do you see the courage and at the same time the love for humanity of the commander of the hosts? who indeed, being Lord of hosts, and having all the systems of the angelic ranks, nowhere wounds any of the enemies, strikes no one down, touches no one; but breaks bows, and weapons, and burns shields with fire. He breaks the bow, so that the fiery darts are no longer sent forth by them; and he will shatter the close-combat weapons, so that those nearby cannot receive wounds when plotted against. And he will burn shields with fire, stripping the adversaries of their defenses, and doing all things for the benefit of his enemies. Be still and know that I am God. For as long as we are occupied with things outside of God, we cannot receive knowledge of God. For who, being anxious about the things of the world, and delving into the distractions of the flesh, can attend to the words concerning God, and be sufficient for the precision of such great contemplations? Do you not see that the word which fell among the thorns is choked by the thorns? And thorns are the pleasures of the flesh, and wealth and glory, and the cares of life. And it will be necessary for the one who desires the knowledge of God to be outside all of these, and having been at leisure from the passions, thus to receive the knowledge of God. For how can the thought of God enter a soul that is constrained by the reasonings that have preconceived it? And Pharaoh also knows that it is characteristic of the one at leisure to seek God, and for this reason he reproaches Israel; You are idle, you are idlers, and you say; We will pray to the Lord our God. This leisure, therefore, is good and beneficial for the one at leisure, producing tranquility for the reception of saving doctrines; but the leisure of the Athenians is wicked, for whom they had time for nothing else but to tell or to hear something new; which some even now imitate, using the leisure of life for the discovery of some ever newer doctrine. Such leisure is dear to unclean and wicked spirits. When, it says, the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it says, I will return to the place from which I came out. And when it comes, it finds that house unoccupied and swept. May it not be, therefore, that we make leisure for the adversary to enter, but let us occupy our inner house, having made Christ to dwell in us beforehand through the Spirit. After then the

69

ἄλλος Θεὸς παρὰ τὸν ὑπὸ τῶν προφητῶν παραδιδόμενον· ἀλλ' ὁ Θεὸς Ἰακὼβ, ὁ ἐν τῷ χρηματισμῷ πρὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ θεράποντα διαλεχθείς· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰακώβ. ∆εῦτε καὶ ἴδετε τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἃ ἔθετο τέ ρατα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἀνταναιρῶν πολέμους μέχρι τῶν περάτων τῆς γῆς. Τοὺς μακρὰν ὄντας τοῦ λό γου τῆς ἀληθείας εἰς τὴν διὰ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως ἐγγύ 29.428 τητα προσκαλεῖται ὁ λόγος λέγων· ∆εῦτε καὶ ἴδετε. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν σωματικῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αἱ μὲν ἐπὶ πολὺ ἀποστάσεις ἀμυδρὰν ποιοῦσι τὴν τῶν ὁρω μένων κατάληψιν, οἱ δὲ προσεγγισμοὶ τῶν θεωρούν των ἐναργῆ παρέχονται τῶν βλεπομένων τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ νοῦν θεωρημά των, ὁ μὴ διὰ τῶν ἔργων οἰκειωθεὶς καὶ πλησιάσας Θεῷ ἰδεῖν τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ καθαροῖς τοῖς διανοίας ὀφθαλ μοῖς οὐ δύναται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο, ∆εῦτε, προσεγγίσατε πρότερον, εἶτα ἴδετε τὰ ἔργα Κυρίου τεράστια ὄντα καὶ παράδοξα· ὑφ' ὧν καταπλαγέντα τὰ πρό τερον πολέμια καὶ στασιώδη ἔθνη πρὸς ἡσυχίαν μετ έβαλε. ∆εῦτε, τέκνα, ἀκούσατέ μου· καὶ, ∆εῦτε πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες, καὶ πεφορτισμένοι. Πατρικὴ ἡ φωνὴ, ἡπλωμέναις ἀγκάλαις πρὸς ἑαυτὸν καλοῦν τος τοὺς τέως ἀφηνιάζοντας. Ὁ οὖν ἀκούσας τῆς κλή σεως, καὶ ἐγγίσας, καὶ κολληθεὶς τῷ προστάξαντι, ὄψεται τὸν εἰρηνοποιήσαντα τὰ πάντα διὰ τοῦ σταυ ροῦ, Εἴτε τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, εἴτε τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Τόξον συντρίψει, καὶ συνθλάσει ὅπλον, καὶ θυρεοὺς κατακαύσει ἐν πυρί. Ὁρᾷς τὸ εἰρηνικὸν Κυρίου τῶν δυνάμεων, ὅτι ἔχων μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ ἀορά τους δυνάμεις ἀγγελικῶν καταλόγων; Ὁρᾷς τὸ ἀν δρεῖον ὁμοῦ καὶ φιλάνθρωπον τοῦ ἀρχιστρατήγου τῶν δυνάμεων; ὅς γε, Κύριος ὢν τῶν δυνάμεων, καὶ πάντα ἔχων τὰ συστήματα τῶν ἀγγελικῶν καταλό γων, οὐδαμοῦ τινα τιτρώσκει τῶν πολεμίων, οὐδένα καταβάλλει, οὐδενὸς ἅπτεται· ἀλλὰ τόξα συντρί βει, καὶ ὅπλα, καὶ θυρεοὺς κατακαίει ἐν πυρί. Τόξον μὲν συντρίβει, ὥστε μηκέτι τὰ πεπυρωμένα βέλη ἐκπέμπεσθαι δι' αὐτῶν· ὅπλα δὲ συνθλάσει τὰ ἀγχέμαχα, ὡς μὴ δύνασθαι τοὺς σύνεγγυς τραύματα δέχεσθαι ἐπιβουλευομένους. Καὶ θυρεοὺς κατακαύσει ἐν πυρὶ, γυμνῶν τοὺς ἀντικειμένους ἀπὸ τῶν προ βλημάτων, καὶ πάντα ἐπ' εὐεργεσίᾳ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐνεργῶν. Σχολάσατε καὶ γνῶτε, ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Θεός. Ἐφ' ὅσον μὲν τοῖς ἔξω Θεοῦ σχολάζομεν πράγμασιν, οὐ δυνάμεθα χωρῆσαι γνῶσιν Θεοῦ. Τίς γὰρ μεριμνῶν τὰ τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ ἐμβαθύνων τοῖς περισπασμοῖς τῆς σαρκὸς, δύναται τοῖς περὶ Θεοῦ λόγοις προσέχειν, καὶ τῇ ἀκριβείᾳ τῶν τηλικούτων θεωρημάτων ἀρκεῖν; Οὐχ ὁρᾷς, ὅτι ὁ εἰς τὰς ἀκάνθας ἐμπεσὼν λόγος ὑπὸ τῶν ἀκανθῶν συμπνίγεται; Ἄκανθαι δέ εἰσιν ἡδοναὶ σαρκὸς, καὶ πλοῦτος καὶ δόξα, καὶ βιωτικαὶ μέριμναι. Πάντα δὲ τούτων ἔξω δεήσει γενέσθαι τὸν ἐπι δεόμενον τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ σχολάσαντα ἀπὸ τῶν παθῶν, οὕτως ἀναλαβεῖν τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Πῶς γὰρ εἰσέλθῃ εἰς ψυχὴν στενοχωρουμένην ὑπὸ τῶν προκαταλαβόντων αὐτὴν διαλογισμῶν ἡ περὶ 29.429 Θεοῦ ἔννοια; Οἶδε δὲ καὶ Φαραὼ, ὅτι ἴδιόν ἐστι τοῦ σχολάζοντος ἐκζητεῖν τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὀνειδίζει τὸν Ἰσραήλ· Σχολάζετε, σχολασταί ἐστε, καὶ λέγετε· Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν προσευξόμεθα. Αὕτη μὲν οὖν ἡ σχολὴ ἀγαθὴ τῷ σχολάζοντι καὶ ὠφέλιμος, ἡσυχίαν ἐμποιοῦσα πρὸς τὴν τῶν σωτηρίων διδαγμά των ἀνάληψιν· πονηρὰ δὲ σχολὴ ἡ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, οἷς Εἰς οὐδὲν ἄλλο εὐκαίρουν ἢ λέγειν τι καὶ ἀκούειν καινότερον· ἣν καὶ νῦν τινες μιμοῦνται, τῇ τοῦ βίου σχολῇ πρὸς τὴν ἀεί τινος καινοτέρου δόγμα τος εὕρεσιν ἀποχρώμενοι. Ἡ τοιαύτη σχολὴ φίλη ἐστὶν ἀκαθάρτοις καὶ πονηροῖς πνεύμασιν. Ὅταν ἐξέλθῃ, φησὶ, τὸ ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦμα ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, λέγει, Πορεύσομαι εἰς τὸν τόπον ὅθεν ἐξῆλθον. Καὶ ἐλθὸν εὑρίσκει τὸν οἶκον ἐκεῖνον σχολάζοντα καὶ σεσαρωμένον. Μὴ γένοιτο οὖν ἡμᾶς σχολὴν ποιῆσαι τῷ ἀντικειμένῳ πρὸς τὴν εἴσοδον, ἀλλὰ ἀσχολήσωμεν ἡμῶν τὸν ἔσω οἶκον, προενοικίσαν τες ἐν ἑαυτοῖς διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τὸν Χριστόν. Μετὰ γοῦν τὸ