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For if you should wish to force and tyrannize over me, as you have indeed said, you will gain nothing else, know well, than to be called a tyrant and a murderer instead of a father; since it is easier for you to reach the tracks of an eagle and to fly through the air itself, than to change my faith in Christ, and the good confession which I confessed to him. But understand, O father, and, having shaken off the rheum and mist from the eyes of your mind, look up to see the light of my God which shines upon all, and be you yourself someday illumined by its sweetest light. For why are you utterly given over to the passions and 360 desires of the flesh, and there is no respite? Know that all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass; the grass withered, and its flower has fallen away, but the word of my Lord, which was preached to all, will abide forever. Why then do you so madly cling to and embrace a glory which, like the spring flowers, withers and vanishes, and loathsome and foul-smelling luxury, and the most defiled passions of the belly and below the belly, which for a season sweeten the senses of the foolish, but afterwards produce returns more bitter than gall, when these shadows and dreams of this vain life pass away, and the lovers of these things, and the workers of iniquity, are shut up in the perpetual pain of an unquenchable and dark fire, where the sleepless worm devours them without end, and the fire burns them unceasingly and unquenchably for endless ages? With whom, alas, you yourself also being shut up and grievously tormented, will regret many of your terrible counsels, and will long for these present days and will remember my words; but there will be no benefit from your repentance. For in Hades there is no confession and repentance; but the present time is appointed for work, and the future for retribution. For if present delights were not subject to vanishing and flux, but were to endure for ever with their masters, not even so should one prefer them to the gifts of Christ and the goods that are beyond comprehension 362; for inasmuch as the sun is brighter and clearer than the deep night, so much and much more are the good things promised to those who love God more glorious and more magnificent than any earthly kingdom and glory, and one should in every case prefer the greater to the more trivial. But since all things here are transient and subject to decay, and pass away and vanish like a dream and like a shadow and a vision of the night, and it is more possible to trust in breezes that do not stand still and in the tracks of a sea-faring ship than in the prosperity of men, of how much foolishness, or rather, mindlessness and madness is it to prefer the corruptible and perishable, the weak and worthless, to the incorruptible and eternal, the undefiled and unending, and for the temporary enjoyment of these to be deprived of the everlasting enjoyment of those good things? Will you not understand these things, O father? Will you not pass by the things that pass by, and cleave to the things that endure? Will you not prefer the dwelling place to the sojourn, the light to the darkness, the spirit to the flesh, eternal life to the shadow of death, the things that are not dissolved to the things that flow away? Will you not flee from the harsh slavery of the dread ruler of this world, the evil one, I mean, the devil, and be made a kinsman to the good and compassionate and all-merciful Master? Will you not, forsaking the worship of many and falsely named gods, serve the one true and living God? For even if you have sinned against him, blaspheming much and destroying his servants with terrible torments, yet he will receive you, I know well, the good one, when you turn back, and he will not remember any of your 364 transgressions; for he does not desire the death of the sinner, as much as that he should turn and live, he who came down from the ineffable heights in search of us who had gone astray, and endured the cross and scourges and death for our sake, and by his precious

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γὰρ βιάζειν με καὶ τυραννεῖν θελήσειας, καθὰ δὴ καὶ εἶπας, οὐδὲν ἄλλο κερδανεῖς, εὖ ἴσθι, ἢ τὸ ἀντὶ πατρὸς τύραννος καὶ φονεὺς κληθῆναι μόνον· ἐπεὶ ῥᾷόν σοι ἀετοῦ ἴχνεσιν ἐφικέσθαι καὶ κατ' αὐτὸν τὸν ἀέρα διίπτασθαι, ἢ τὴν ἐμὴν μεταπείσειν εἰς Χριστὸν πίστιν, καὶ ἣν αὐτῷ ὡμολόγησα καλὴν ὁμολογίαν. ἀλλὰ σύνες, ὦ πάτερ, καί, τὴν λήμην καὶ ἀχλὺν ἀποτινάξας τῶν τοῦ νοὸς ὀμμάτων, ἀνάβλεψον ἰδεῖν τὸ πᾶσι περιλάμπον τοῦ Θεοῦ μου φῶς, καὶ αὐτός ποτε περιλάμφθητι τῷ γλυκυτάτῳ τούτου φωτί. ἵνα τί γὰρ ὅλως τοῖς πάθεσι καὶ 360 θελήμασιν ἐξεδόθης τῆς σαρκός, καὶ ἀνάνευσις οὐκ ἔστι; γνῶθι ὅτι πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος καὶ πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου· ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος καὶ τὸ ἄνθος αὐτοῦ ἐκπέπτωκε, τὸ δὲ ῥῆμα τοῦ Κυρίου μου, τὸ εὐαγγελισθὲν ἐπὶ πάντας, μενεῖ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. τί οὖν οὕτως ἐμμανῶς ἀντέχῃ καὶ περιέχῃ τῆς δίκην τῶν ἐαρινῶν ἀνθέων μαραινομένης καὶ ἀφανιζομένης δόξης, καὶ τῆς βδελυρᾶς καὶ δυσώδους τρυφῆς, καὶ τῶν τῆς γαστρὸς καὶ ὑπὸ γαστέρα μιαρωτάτων παθῶν, ἅτινα πρὸς καιρὸν ἡδύνουσι τὰς αἰσθήσεις τῶν ἀνοήτων, ὕστερον μέντοι πικροτέρας χολῆς ποιοῦνται τὰς ἀναδόσεις, ὅταν αἱ μὲν σκιαὶ αὗται καὶ τὰ ἐνύπνια τοῦ ματαίου τούτου παρέλθωσι βίου, ἐν ὀδύνῃ δὲ διηνεκεῖ πυρὸς ἀσβέστου καὶ σκοτεινοῦ κατακλεισθῶσιν οἱ τούτων ἐρασταί, καὶ τῆς ἀνομίας ἐργάται, ἔνθα ὁ σκώληξ αὐτοὺς ὁ ἀκοίμητος ἀτελεύτητα κατεσθίει, καὶ τὸ πῦρ ἄληκτα καὶ ἀκατάσβεστα εἰς αἰῶνας κατακαίει ἀπεράντους; μεθ' ὧν οἴμοι καὶ αὐτὸς κατακλεισθεὶς καὶ χαλεπῶς ὀδυνώμενος, πολλὰ μὲν μεταγνώσῃ τῶν δεινῶν βουλευμάτων, πολλὰ δὲ ἐπιζητήσεις τὰς νῦν ἡμέρας καὶ τῶν ἐμῶν ἐπιμνησθήσῃ ῥημάτων· ἀλλ' ὄφελος τῆς μεταμελείας οὐκ ἔσται. ἐν γὰρ τῷ ᾅδῃ ἐξομολόγησις καὶ μετάνοια οὐχ ὑπάρχει· ἀλλ' ὁ παρὼν ὡρίσθη καιρὸς τῆς ἐργασίας, ὁ δὲ μέλλων τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως. εἰ μὲν γὰρ τὰ παρόντα τερπνὰ οὐκ ἀφανισμῷ ὑπέκειτο καὶ ῥοῇ, ἀλλὰ συνδιαιωνίζειν ἔμελλε τοῖς αὐτῶν δεσπόταις, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἔδει τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ δωρεῶν καὶ ὑπὲρ ἔννοιαν 362 ἀγαθῶν ταῦτα προκρῖναι· καθ' ὅσον γὰρ ὁ ἥλιος τῆς βαθείας ἐστὶ νυκτὸς λαμπρότερος καὶ διαυγέστερος, τοσοῦτον καὶ πολλῷ πλέον τὰ ἐπηγγελμένα ἀγαθὰ τοῖς ἀγαπῶσι τὸν Θεὸν πάσης ἐπιγείου βασιλείας καὶ δόξης ἐνδοξότερά τε ὑπάρχει καὶ μεγαλοπρεπέστερα, καὶ ἔδει πάντως τὰ μείζονα τῶν εὐτελεστέρων προκρῖναι. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ῥευστὰ τὰ τῇδε πάντα καὶ φθορᾷ ὑποκείμενα ὡς ὄναρ τε καὶ ὡς σκιὰ καὶ ἐνύπνιον παρέρχεται καὶ ἀφανίζεται, καὶ αὔραις μᾶλλον ἔστι πιστεύειν οὐχ ἱσταμέναις καὶ νηὸς ποντοπορούσης ἴχνεσιν ἢ ἀνθρώπων εὐημερίᾳ, πόσης εὐηθείας ἤ, μᾶλλον εἰπεῖν, ἀνοίας τε καὶ παραφροσύνης τὰ φθαρτὰ καὶ ἐπίκηρα, ἀσθενῆ τε καὶ οὐδαμινά, τῶν ἀφθάρτων προκρῖναι καὶ αἰωνίων, ἀκηράτων τε καὶ ἀτελευτήτων, καὶ τῇ προσκαίρῳ τούτων ἀπολαύσει τῆς ἀδιαδόχου στερηθῆναι τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐκείνων ἀπολαύσεως; οὐ συνήσεις ταῦτα, ὦ πάτερ; οὐ παραδραμεῖς τὰ παρατρέχοντα, καὶ προσθήσῃ τοῖς ἐπιμένουσιν; οὐ προτιμήσεις τὴν κατοικίαν τῆς παροικίας, τὸ φῶς τοῦ σκότους, τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς σαρκός, τὴν αἰώνιον ζωὴν τῆς σκιᾶς τοῦ θανάτου, τὰ μὴ λυόμενα τῶν ῥεόντων; οὐκ ἐκφεύξῃ τῆς χαλεπῆς δουλείας τοῦ δεινοῦ κοσμοκράτορος, τοῦ πονηροῦ, φημί, διαβόλου, καὶ τῷ ἀγαθῷ καὶ εὐσπλάγχνῳ καὶ πανοικτίρμονι οἰκειωθήσῃ ∆εσπότῃ; οὐ, τῆς τῶν πολλῶν ἀποστὰς καὶ ψευδωνύμων θεῶν λατρείας, τῷ ἑνὶ λατρεύσεις ἀληθινῷ καὶ ζῶντι Θεῷ; εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἥμαρτες αὐτῷ, πολλὰ βλασφημήσας καὶ τοὺς αὐτοῦ θεράποντας δειναῖς ἀνελὼν τιμωρίαις, ἀλλὰ δέξεταί σε, εὖ οἶδα, ὁ ἀγαθὸς ἐπιστρέψαντα καὶ πάντων σου 364 ἀμνημονεύσει τῶν πλημμελημάτων· οὐ βούλεται γὰρ τὸν θάνατον τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ, ὡς τὸ ἐπιστρέψαι καὶ ζῆν αὐτόν, ὁ ἐκ τῶν ἀνεκδιηγήτων κατελθὼν ὑψωμάτων ἐπὶ ζήτησιν τῶν πλανηθέντων ἡμῶν, σταυρόν τε καὶ μάστιγας καὶ θάνατον ὑπομείνας δι' ἡμᾶς, καὶ τῷ τιμίῳ αὐτοῦ