73

to you the grain of the heavens. And this grain is the grace of the Divine Spirit, and the garden is the heart of each person, where the one who receives the Spirit casts it within and hides it in the depths of the bowels, so that no one sees it, and guards it with all exactness, so that it may grow, so that it may become a tree and ascend to heaven. (121) If therefore you say: Not here, but after the end all who fervently love it will receive the kingdom, you overturn the words of our Savior and God. For if you do not receive the grain, the mustard seed, of which He spoke, if you do not cast it into your garden, you remain entirely without seed. But if you should receive the seed and choke it with thorns or betray it to the birds and they snatch the grain away or you leave your garden unwatered through neglect and your seed does not grow, it will not sprout, it will not bear fruit, what benefit will be to you from the seed, tell me? But when, if not here, would you receive the seed at another time? After death, you might say to me, but you stray from what is likely: in what garden then will you hide this, I ask you, and with what labors will you tend it, so that it may grow? Truly you are entirely full of error,

73

τήν τῶν οὐρανῶν σοι κόκκον. Ὁ δέ κόκκος οὗτος ἔστι Θείου Πνεύματος ἡ χάρις, ὁ δέ κῆπος ἡ καρδία ἡ ἑκάστου τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἔνθα ὁ λαβών τό Πνεῦμα βάλλει ἔνδον τε καί κρύπτει ταῖς λαγόσι ταῖς τῶν σπλάγχνων, ὡς μηδένα τοῦτο βλέπειν, καί φυλάττει μετά πάσης ἀκριβείας, ὅπως φύῃ, ὅπως γένηται εἰς δένδρον καί εἰς οὐρανόν ἀνέλθῃ. (121) Εἰ οὖν λέγεις˙ Οὐχί ὧδε, ἀλλά μετά τέλος πάντες λήψονται τήν βασιλείαν, οἱ θερμῶς ταύτης ἐρῶντες, ἀνατρέπεις τοῦ Σωτῆρος καί Θεοῦ ἡμῶν τούς λόγους. Τόν γάρ κόκκον εἰ μή λάβῃς, τόν σινάπεως, ὅν εἶπεν, εἰ μή βάλῃς σου εἰς κῆπον, μένεις ὅλως δίχα σπόρου. Εἰ δέ καί τόν σπόρον λάβοις καί συμπνίξεις ταῖς ἀκάνθαις ἤ προδώσεις τοῖς ὀρνέοις καί ἁρπάσουσι τόν κόκκον ἤ ἀπότιστον ἐάσεις κῆπόν σου τῇ ἀμελείᾳ καί οὐ φύει σου ὁ σπόρος, οὐ βλαστήσει, οὐ καρπεύσει, τίς σοι ἐκ τοῦ σπόρου ἔσται ἡ ὠφέλεια, εἰπέ μοι; Πότε δέ, εἰ μή ἐνταῦθα, ἄλλοτε τόν σπόρον λάβοις; Μετά θάνατον, μοί εἴπῃς, ἀλλά σφάλλῃ τοῦ εἰκότος˙ ποίῳ κήπῳ τότε τοῦτον κατακρύψεις, ἐρωτῶ σε, ποίαις δέ ταῖς ἐργασίαις θεραπεύσεις, ἵνα φύῃ; Ὄντως ὅλος γέμεις πλάνῃς,