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a reward for benefit, but also not existing for those who through foolishness are more beast-like, whose irrationality, foolishness, and savagery the word forbids, saying, "Do not become like a horse and a mule, which have no understanding." 2.321 For how is the reward able to exist for those who have no understanding, for those who do all things with irrationality? And so if some seem to be men, doing all things with malice, acting without reward and without accomplishment, they do not have a beneficial reward, because "wisdom does not enter into their malicious soul, nor dwell in a body that is in debt to sin," the benefit of the reward being for virtue and piety. 2.322 To the soul, therefore, that works "the food which endures to eternal life" and transforms the holy commandments into deeds, God the "rewarder" says, "There is a reward for your works." Equivalently to this recompense, concerning the unashamed workers the Apostle Paul in Christ writes, "Each will receive his own reward according to his own work." 2.323 Consider carefully if only those things given for praiseworthy works are called reward, while those inflicted for sins are named punishments, but not rewards. 2.324 And what follows from the reward of men not being for benefit and the reward of beasts not existing, but that from tribulation there is no peace for him who goes out and for him who comes in, men being sent by the one who rules peacefully "each against his neighbor," always murdering and troubling one another. 2.325 Describing such a savage state, the psalmist in the eleventh Psalm says, "Each has spoken vanity in his heart; with deceitful lips in their heart and in their heart they have spoken." Equivalently, Jeremiah also says concerning those who are thus set against one another, "Do not trust in friends, and do not rely on brothers, because every brother will utterly supplant and every friend will walk deceitfully; they will not speak the truth, their tongue has learned to speak lies." Concerning such people, the sacred psalmist David also cries out, "To me they spoke peaceful things, but in anger they devise words." And the prophet says again, "He speaks peaceful things to his neighbor, but in himself he holds enmity," that is, the deceitful and treacherous one. 2.326 For those who are thus zealous and do "the works of the flesh," even if they seem to be men, the reward will not be for benefit nor will that of the more beast-like exist. 2.327 In these things, one must understand as beasts those who are lovers of pleasure and lovers of passion, and as men those who hold in honor the falsely called knowledge and "the wisdom of this age and of its rulers," which does not have a beneficial reward because it is being brought to nothing and does not remain after this age and the life in it. For when the true light appears in the age to come, every sophistry that holds deceit and every irrational pleasure will be dissolved, so that their reward, which exists only in appearance, no longer has benefit or exists, with him who goes out and him who comes in having no peace at all from the afflicting tribulation, each man having been sent against his neighbor, to destroy and harm him. 2.328Zach. VIII, 11-12: And now not according to the former days will I deal with the remnant of this people, says the Lord Almighty, but I will show peace; the vine will give its fruit and the land will give its produce and the heaven will give its dew, and I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of my people. 2.329 Inclining to beneficence, the cause of all good things promises no longer to deal with the remnant of the people according to the former days, when the enemies prevailed, overcoming those whom they had taken captive; bestowing peace, he said, there will be a good season and abundance, with the wine-bearing plants bearing much fruit, and the land bearing produce in abundance, with the heaven giving its dew, all of which the

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μισθὸν εἰς ὄνησιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μὴ ὑπάρχοντα τῶν δι' εὐήθειαν κτηνωδεστέρων, ὧν ἀπαγορεύων τὴν ἀλογίαν, εὐήθειάν τε καὶ ἀγριότητα, ὁ λόγος φησίν· «Μὴ γίνεσθε ὡς ἵππος καὶ ἡμίονος, οἷς οὐκ ἔστιν σύνεσις.» 2.321 Πῶς γὰρ ὑπάρξειν οἷός τ' ἐστὶν ὁ μισθὸς τῶν σύνεσιν οὐκ ἐχόντων, τῶν σὺν ἀλογίᾳ πάντα πραττόντων; Κἄν ποτ' οὖν τινες ἄνθρωποι εἶναι δοκῶσιν, πάντα σὺν κακοτεχνίᾳ δρῶντες, ἀμισθὶ καὶ ἀνηνύτως ἐνεργοῦντες, ὀνήσιμον μισθὸν οὐκ ἔχουσιν, διὰ τὸ «μὴ εἰσέρχεσθαι σοφίαν εἰς τὴν κακότεχνον αὐτῶν ψυχήν, μ̣ηδὲ κατοικεῖν ἐν τῷ καταχρέῳ ἁμαρτίας σώματι», ὄνησιν μισθοῦ ἔχοντος τοῦ ὑπὲρ ἀρετῆς καὶ εὐσεβείας. 2.322 Τῇ ἐνεργαζομένῃ γοῦν ψυχῇ «τὴν μένουσαν εἰς αἰώνιον ζωὴν βρῶσιν» καὶ εἰς ἔργα μεταβαλλούσῃ τὰς ἁγίας ε᾿̣ν̣τολάς, ὁ «μισθαποδότης» Θεός φησιν· «Ἔστιν μισθὸς τοῖς σοῖς ἔργοις.» Ἰσοδυναμούντως τῇ ἀμείψει ταύτῃ, περὶ τῶν ἀκαταισχύντων ἐργατῶν ὁ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἀπόστολος Παῦλος γράφει· «Ἕκαστος λήμψεται τὸν ἴδιον μισθὸν κατὰ τὸ αὑτοῦ ἔργον.» 2.323 Ἐπίστησον ἀκριβῶς εἰ μόνα τὰ διδόμενα ὑπὲρ ἐπαινετῶν ἔργων μισθὸς καλεῖται, τῶν ἐφ' ἁμαρτίαις προτινομένων κολάσεων, ἀλλ' οὐ μισθῶν, ὀνομαζομένων. 2.324 Τί δ' ἕψεται τοῦ μισθοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰς ὄνησιν οὐκ ὄντος καὶ τοῦ μισθοῦ τῶν κτηνῶν οὐχ ὑπάρχοντος, ἢ ἀπὸ θλίψεως εἰρήνην μὴ εἶναι ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐκπορευομένου καὶ εἰσπορευομένου, τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀποστελλομένων πρὸς τοῦ εἰρηνικῶς βασιλεύοντος «ἕκαστον ἐπὶ τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ» κατ' ἀλλήλων ἀεὶ φονώντων καὶ ταραττομένων. 2.325 Τὴν τοιαύτην ἀγρίαν κατάστασιν ὑπογράφων, ὁ ὑμνῳδὸς ἐν Ψαλμῷ ἑνδεκάτῳ φησίν· «Μάταια ἐλάλησεν ἕκαστος ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ, χείλη δόλια ἐν καρδίᾳ καὶ ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν ἐλάλησαν.» Ἰσοδυναμούντως καὶ ὁ Ἰερεμίας περὶ τῶν οὕτως ἐπικειμένων κατ' ἀλλήλων λέγει· «Μὴ καταπιστεύετε ἐν φίλοις, καὶ ἐπ' ἀδελφοῖς μὴ πεποίθατε, ὅτι πᾶς ἀδελφὸς πτέρνῃ πτερνιεῖ καὶ πᾶς φίλος δολίως πορεύσεται· ἀλήθειαν οὐ μὴ λαλήσουσιν, μεμάθηκεν γλῶσσα αὐτῶν λαλεῖν ψεύδη.» Περὶ τῶν τοιούτων καὶ ὁ ἱεροψάλτης ∆αυὶδ βοᾷ· «Ἐμοὶ μὲν εἰρηνικὰ ἐλάλουν, καὶ ἐπ' ὀργῇ λόγους διαλογίζονται.» Καὶ ὁ προφήτης πάλιν λέγει· «Τῷ πλησίον αὐτοῦ λαλεῖ εἰρηνικά, καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχει τὴν ἔχθραν», ὁ δολερὸς καὶ ἀπατηλὸς δηλονότι. 2.326 Τῶν οὕτω σπουδαζόντων καὶ «τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς ἔργα» πραττόντων, κἂν ἄνθρωποι δοκῶσιν εἶναι, ὁ μισθὸς εἰς ὄνησιν οὐκ ἔσται οὐδ' ὁ τῶν κτηνωδεστέρων ὑπάρξει. 2.327 Κτήνη ἐν τούτοις ἐκλημπτέον τοὺς φιληδόνους καὶ φιλοπαθεῖς, ἀνθρώπους δὲ τοὺς πρεσβεύοντας τὴν ψευδώνυμον γνῶσιν καὶ «τὴν σοφίαν τούτου τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων αὐτοῦ», ὀνήσιμον μισθὸν οὐκ ἔχουσαν τῷ καταργεῖσθαι καὶ μὴ μένειν μετὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦτον καὶ τὴν κατ' αὐτὸν ζωήν. Φανέντος γὰρ κατὰ τὸν μέλλοντα αἰῶνα τοῦ φωτὸς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ, λυθήσεται πᾶσα ἀπάτην ἔχουσα σοφιστεία καὶ ἄλογος ἡδονή, ὥστε μηκέτι τὸν μέχρι τοῦ δοκεῖν ὄντα μισθὸν αὐτῶν ὄνησιν ἔχειν ἢ ὑπάρχειν, τοῦ ἐκπορευομένου καὶ εἰσπορευομένου οὐδαμῶς εἰρήνην ἔχοντος ἀπὸ τῆς καταπονησάσης θλίψεως, ἑκάστου ἀνθρώπου ἀποσταλέντος κατὰ τοῦ πλησίον, ὥστε πορθεῖν καὶ κακοῦν αὐτόν. 2.328Zach. VIII, 11-12: Καὶ νῦν οὐ κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας τὰς ἔμπροσθεν ἐγὼ ποιῶ τοῖς καταλοίποις τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ, ἀλλ' ἢ δείξω εἰρήνην· ἡ ἄμπελος δώσει τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῆς καὶ ἡ γῆ δώσει τὰ γενήματα αὐτῆς καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς δώσει τὴν δρόσον αὐτοῦ, καὶ κατακληρονομήσω τοῖς καταλοίποις τοῦ λαοῦ μου πάντα ταῦτα. 2.329 Ῥέψας εἰς εὐεργεσίαν, ὁ πάντων ἀγαθῶν αἴτιος ἐπαγγέλλεται μηκέτι ποιήσειν τοῖς ὑπολειφθεῖσιν τοῦ λαοῦ κατὰ τὰς πρότερον ἡμέρας, ὅτε ἐκράτουν οἱ ἐχθροί, περιγενάμενοι ὧν ἐξῃχμαλώτισαν· εἰρήνην χαριζόμενος, ἔφη, εὐετηρία καὶ εὐθηνία ἔσται, τῶν οἰνοφόρων φυτῶν καρπὸν πολὺ φερόντων, καὶ τῆς γῆς γενήματα ει᾿̣ς π̣λῆθος καρποφορούσης, δρόσον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διδόντος, ἅπ̣ερ πάντα κληρονομήσει ὁ