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we depart to a foreign land, just like that one who devoured his paternal substance, and departed into a foreign land, the one who wasted all his paternal property, and lived in famine. We too, therefore, have a paternal substance. What is this? He has freed us from our sins, he has bestowed on us power, strength for the working of virtue, he has bestowed on us eagerness, endurance, in baptism he has bestowed on us the Holy Spirit; if we waste these things, we shall henceforth be in famine. For just as those who are sick, as long as they are troubled by fevers and bad humors, they can neither stand up, nor work, nor do anything; but if someone frees them and brings them to health, and then they do not work, this happens because of their own indolence; so it is also in our case. A grievous sickness and a severe fever lay upon us; and 62.269 we lay not on a bed, but upon wickedness itself, as if in a dung-heap, cast down in evil, ulcerated, full of stench, parched, wasting away, being idols rather than men. Evil demons surrounded us, the ruler of this world laughing, treading upon us. The Only-Begotten of God came, he sent forth the rays of his presence, and immediately drove away the darkness; the king who is on the paternal throne came to us, having left the paternal throne (but when I say, having left, do not think of a change of place; for he himself fills heaven and earth; but I say this on account of the economy); he came to an enemy who hated him, who turned away from him, who could not bear even to see him, who blasphemed him every day. He saw him lying in a dung-heap, ulcerated by worms, possessed by fevers, by famine, having every form of sickness. For indeed a fever was vexing him, for this is evil desire, and inflammations lay upon him, for this is despair, and what is called bulimia possessed him, for this is greed, and putrefactions on all sides, for this is fornication, and blindness of the eyes, for this is idolatry, and deafness and paralysis, for this is to worship stones and wood and to speak to them, and great ugliness, for this is wickedness; something unpleasant, and a most grievous disease. He saw us speaking things worse again than those who are mad, and calling wood God, and likewise stone; he saw us in so great a wickedness, and he was not disgusted, he was not displeased, he did not turn away, he did not hate; for he was the Master, and he would not hate his own creation. But what does he do? Like the best physician he prepares medicines of great worth, and is the first to taste of them; for he himself first pursued virtue, and thus gave it to us. And first, as a kind of antidote, he gave the bath, and so we vomited up all wickedness, and everything was banished at once, and the inflammation ceased, and the fever was quenched, and the putrefactions were burned away. For everything, both from greed, and from anger, and the other evils were emptied out through the spirit; 62.270 our eyes were opened, our ears were opened, the tongue spoke a word of good report, the soul received strength, the body received such beauty and bloom, as it is fitting for a Son of God, having been born, to have beauty from the grace of the Spirit, such glory as it is fitting for a son newly born to a king to have, and being nourished in purple. Alas, what great nobility he has bestowed on us! But we remain ungrateful to him who so loved us. We were born, we were nourished, we were blessed; why do we again flee the benefactor? He therefore who did all these things, also gives strength; for it was not possible for us, being held by the sickness, to endure, unless he himself had given us the strength. He gave remission of sins, we rejected the gift; he gave us wealth, we scattered it, we devoured everything; he gave us strength, we wasted it; he gave us a gift of grace, we extinguished it. How? We spent it on nothing necessary, we used it for nothing useful. These things have destroyed us, and

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ἀλλοτρίαν ἀπερχόμεθα γῆν, καθάπερ ἐκεῖνος ὁ καταφαγὼν τὰ ὑπάρχοντα τὰ πατρῷα, καὶ ἀπελθὼν εἰς ἀλλοτρίαν γῆν, ὁ καταναλώσας πᾶσαν τὴν πατρικὴν οὐσίαν, καὶ ἐν λιμῷ ζῶν. Ἔχομεν οὖν πατρικὴν οὐσίαν καὶ ἡμεῖς. Ποίαν δὴ ταύτην; Ἀπήλλαξεν ἡμᾶς τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, ἐχαρίσατο ἡμῖν δύναμιν, ἰσχὺν πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐργασίαν, ἐχαρίσατο ἡμῖν προθυμίαν, ὑπομονὴν, ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι ἐχαρίσατο ἡμῖν Πνεῦμα ἅγιον· ἂν ταῦτα καταναλώσωμεν, ἐν λιμῷ λοιπὸν ἐσόμεθα. Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ νοσοῦντες, ἕως μὲν ἂν πυρετοῖς ἐνοχλῶνται καὶ χυμῶν κακίᾳ, οὐδὲ διαναστῆναι, οὐδὲ ἐργάσασθαι, οὐδὲ πρᾶξαί τι δύνανται· ἂν δέ τις αὐτοὺς ἀπαλλάξῃ καὶ εἰς ὑγείαν ἀγάγῃ, εἶτα μὴ ἐργάζωνται, παρὰ τὴν οἰκείαν αὐτῶν τοῦτο γίνεται ῥᾳθυμίαν· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν. Ἐπέκειτο ἡμῖν νόσος χαλεπὴ καὶ πυρετὸς σφοδρός· καὶ 62.269 ἐκείμεθα οὐκ ἐπὶ κλίνης, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῆς κακίας αὐτῆς, καθάπερ ἐν κοπρίᾳ, τῇ πονηρίᾳ ἐῤῥιμμένοι, ἡλκωμένοι, δυσωδίας ἀνάπλεῳ, αὐχμῶντες, κατατρυχόμενοι, εἴδωλα μᾶλλον ὄντες, ἢ ἄνθρωποι. Περιειστήκεσαν ἡμᾶς δαίμονες πονηροὶ, ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου γελῶν, ἐπεμβαίνων. Ἦλθεν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Μονογενὴς, ἀφῆκε τὰς ἀκτῖνας τῆς παρουσίας αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸν ζόφον εὐθέως ἀπήλασεν· ἦλθε πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ πατρικῷ, τὸν θρόνον ἀφεὶς τὸν πατρικὸν (ὅταν δὲ, ἀφεὶς, εἴπω, μὴ πάλιν μετάστασιν νομίσῃς· τὸν γὰρ οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν αὐτὸς πληροῖ· ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦτό φημι)· ἦλθε πρὸς ἐχθρὸν τὸν μισοῦντα αὐτὸν, τὸν ἀποστρεφόμενον, τὸν οὐδὲ ἰδεῖν αὐτὸν ἀνεχόμενον, τὸν καθ' ἑκάστην αὐτὸν βλασφημοῦντα τὴν ἡμέραν. Εἶδεν ἐν κοπρίᾳ κείμενον, σκώληξιν ἡλκωμένον, πυρετοῖς, λιμῷ κατεχόμενον, πᾶν εἶδος ἔχοντα νόσου. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ πυρετὸς ἠνώχλει, τοῦτο γὰρ ἐπιθυμία πονηρὰ, καὶ φλεγμοναὶ ἐπέκειντο, τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ ἀπόνοια, καὶ ἡ βουλιμία τις ἡ λεγομένη κατεῖχε, τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ πλεονεξία, καὶ σηπεδόνες πάντοθεν, τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ πορνεία, καὶ πήρωσις ὀφθαλμῶν, τοῦτο γὰρ εἰδωλολατρεία, καὶ κώφωσις καὶ παραπληξία, τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ προσκυνεῖν λίθοις καὶ ξύλοις καὶ ἐκείνοις προσφθέγγεσθαι, καὶ δυσείδεια πολλὴ, τοῦτο γὰρ κακία· ἀηδές τι, καὶ νόσος χαλεπωτάτη. Εἶδε χεῖρον πάλιν τῶν μαινομένων φθεγγομένους ἡμᾶς, καὶ τὸ ξύλον θεὸν καλοῦντας, καὶ τὸν λίθον ὁμοίως· εἶδεν ἐν τοσαύτῃ κακίᾳ, καὶ οὐκ ἐβδελύξατο, οὐκ ἐδυσχέρανεν, οὐκ ἀπεστράφη, οὐκ ἐμίσησε· ∆εσπότης γὰρ ἦν, καὶ τὸ ἴδιον πλάσμα οὐκ ἂν ἐμίσησεν. Ἀλλὰ τί ποιεῖ; Καθάπερ ἄριστος ἰατρὸς κατασκευάζει φάρμακα πολλοῦ ἄξια, καὶ πρῶτος αὐτῶν ἀπογεύεται· τὴν γὰρ ἀρετὴν αὐτὸς πρῶτος μετῆλθε, καὶ οὕτως ἡμῖν ἔδωκε. Καὶ πρῶτον καθάπερ ἀντίδοτόν τι φάρμακον ἔδωκε τὸ λουτρὸν, καὶ οὕτω πᾶσαν ἠμέσαμεν κακίαν, καὶ πάντα ἐφυγαδεύθη ἀθρόον, καὶ ἡ φλεγμονὴ ἐπαύσατο, καὶ ὁ πυρετὸς ἐσβέσθη, καὶ αἱ σηπεδόνες ἐκαύθησαν. Πάντα γὰρ καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ πλεονεξίας, καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ θυμοῦ, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα κακὰ ἐκενώθη διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος· ἀνεῴχθησαν 62.270 οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ, ἀνεῴγη τὰ ὦτα, ἐλάλησεν εὔφημον φωνὴν ἡ γλῶσσα, ἔλαβεν ἰσχὺν ἡ ψυχὴ, ἔλαβε κάλλος καὶ ἄνθος τὸ σῶμα τοιοῦτον, οἷον εἰκὸς Υἱὸν Θεοῦ τεχθέντα κάλλος ἔχειν ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριτος, οἵαν εἰκὸς δόξαν ἔχειν υἱὸν ἄρτι τεχθέντα βασιλεῖ, καὶ ἐν ἁλουργίδι τρεφόμενον. Οἴμοι, πόσην εὐγένειαν ἡμῖν ἐχαρίσατο! ἡμεῖς δὲ περὶ τὸν οὕτως ἡμᾶς φιλήσαντα ἀχάριστοι μένομεν. Ἐτέχθημεν, ἐτράφημεν, εὐεργετήθημεν· τί πάλιν φεύγομεν τὸν εὐεργέτην; Ὁ τοίνυν ταῦτα πάντα ποιήσας, καὶ ἰσχὺν δίδωσιν· οὐ γὰρ ἐνῆν κατεχομένους τῷ νοσήματι ἐνεγκεῖν, εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς ἡμῖν ἔδωκε τὴν ἰσχύν. Ἔδωκε τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τὴν ἄφεσιν, ἠθετήσαμεν τὴν δωρεάν· ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν πλοῦτον, ἐσκορπίσαμεν αὐτὸν, κατεφάγομεν ἅπαντα· ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν ἰσχὺν, ἀνηλώσαμεν αὐτήν· ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν χάρισμα, ἐσβέσαμεν αὐτό. Πῶς; Ἀνηλώσαμεν εἰς οὐδὲν δέον, ἐχρησάμεθα ἐν οὐδενὶ χρησίμῳ. Ταῦτα ἡμᾶς ἀπώλεσε, καὶ