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being deceived, drags them down to the bottom of Hades. But the good things promised 380 by my Master, which you have called the hope of an uncertain life, are true and unchangeable, know no end, are not subject to corruption. There is no word which is able to represent the magnitude of that glory and delight, of the unspeakable joy, of the perpetual gladness. For we all, as you yourself see, die, and there is no man who shall live and not see death. But we are all to rise again, when the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, shall come in unspeakable glory and fearful power, the only King of kings and Lord of lords, to whom every knee shall bow of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth. And He will then cause such ecstasy, that even the heavenly powers themselves will be amazed. And there will stand before Him in trembling thousands of thousands and ten thousands of ten thousands of angels and archangels, and all things will be full of fear and trembling. For one of the archangels will sound the trumpet of God, and immediately the heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll, and the earth, being rent asunder, will send up the dead bodies of all men who have ever been, from when the first man, Adam, was, until that day. And then all who have died from the beginning of time, in the twinkling of an eye, shall stand living before the judgment seat of the immortal Master, and each will give an account for what he has done. Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun, those who have believed in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and have completed the present life in good works. But how shall I describe to you the glory that is then to receive them? For even if I 382 compare their brightness and beauty to the light of the sun, or to the most brilliant lightning, I will say nothing worthy of that splendor. For eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him in the kingdom of heaven, in the unapproachable light, in the ineffable and unending glory. And the righteous indeed will obtain such good things and such blessedness. But those who have denied the truly existing God, and have been ignorant of the framer and creator, but have worshipped impure demons, and have rendered reverence to mute idols, and have longed for the pleasures of this vain life, and, like swine, have wallowed in the mire of passions, and have made their own souls a starting-point for all evil, they shall stand naked and exposed, ashamed and downcast, pitiable both in appearance and in reality, set forth as a reproach to all creation. And all their things in word, in deed, in thought, will come before their face. Then, after that most grievous shame and that unbearable reproach, they will be condemned to the unquenchable and lightless fire of Gehenna, to the outer darkness, the gnashing of teeth and the venomous worm. This is their portion, this their lot, with which they will be punished for endless ages, in return for which, having thrust aside the good things in the promises, for the sake of a temporary pleasure of sin, they chose eternal punishment. For the sake of these things, then, 384 so as to attain that ineffable joy and to enjoy that unspeakable glory, and to shine in response to the angels, and to stand with confidence before the good and most sweet Master, and to escape the most bitter and unending punishments and that painful shame, how many things is it not worth giving up, both possessions and bodies, and rather even our very souls? Who is so ignoble, who so foolish, as not to endure countless temporary deaths, in order to be delivered from eternal and unending death, and to inherit the blessed and imperishable life, and be illumined by the light of the blessed and life-giving Trinity?

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ἀπατωμένους, εἰς τὸν τοῦ ᾅδου καθέλκει πυθμένα. τὰ δὲ παρὰ τοῦ ἐμοῦ ∆εσπότου ἐπηγ 380 γελμένα ἀγαθά, ἅπερ σὺ ἀδήλου ζωῆς ἐλπίδα ὠνόμασας, ἀψευδῆ εἰσι καὶ ἀναλλοίωτα, τέλος οὐκ οἶδε, φθορᾷ οὐχ ὑπόκειται· λόγος οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ παραστῆσαι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς δόξης ἐκείνης καὶ τερπνότητος ἰσχύων, τῆς χαρᾶς τῆς ἀνεκλαλήτου, τῆς διηνεκοῦς εὐφροσύνης. πάντες μὲν γάρ, καθάπερ αὐτὸς ὁρᾷς, ἀποθνήσκομεν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄνθρωπος ὃς ζήσεται καὶ οὐκ ὄψεται θάνατον· μέλλομεν δὲ πάντες ἀνίστασθαι, ἡνίκα ἐλεύσεται Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐν δόξῃ ἀνεκλαλήτῳ καὶ δυνάμει φοβερᾷ, ὁ μόνος Βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλευόντων καὶ Κύριος τῶν κυριευόντων, ᾧ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψει ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων· καὶ τοσαύτην ἐμποιήσει τότε τὴν ἔκστασιν, ὡς καὶ αὐτὰς ἐκπλαγῆναι τὰς οὐρανίους δυνάμεις· καὶ παραστήσονται αὐτῷ τρόμῳ χίλιαι χιλιάδες καὶ μύριαι μυριάδες ἀγγέλων καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων, καὶ πάντα ἔσται φόβου καὶ τρόμου μεστά. σαλπιεῖ γὰρ εἷς τῶν ἀρχαγγέλων ἐν σάλπιγγι Θεοῦ, καὶ εὐθὺς ὁ οὐρανὸς μὲν εἱλιγήσεται ὡς βιβλίον, ἡ γῆ δὲ ἀναρρηγνυμένη ἀναπέμψει τὰ τεθνεῶτα σώματα τῶν πώποτε γενομένων ἀνθρώπων, ἐξ οὗ γέγονεν ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος Ἀδὰμ μέχρι τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης. καὶ τότε πάντες οἱ ἀπ' αἰῶνος θανόντες ἐν ῥιπῇ ὀφθαλμοῦ ζῶντες παραστήσονται τῷ βήματι τοῦ ἀθανάτου ∆εσπότου, καὶ ἕκαστος λόγον δώσει ὑπὲρ ὧν ἔπραξε. τότε οἱ δίκαιοι λάμψουσιν ὡς ἥλιος, οἱ πιστεύσαντες εἰς Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, καὶ ἐν ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς τελέσαντες τὸν παρόντα βίον. πῶς δέ σοι διηγήσομαι τὴν μέλλουσαν αὐτοὺς τότε διαδέχεσθαι δόξαν; κἂν γὰρ 382 τῷ ἡλιακῷ παραβάλλω φωτὶ τὴν λαμπρότητα αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ κάλλος, κἂν ἀστραπῇ τῇ φανοτάτῃ, οὐδὲν τῆς λαμπρότητος ἐκείνης ἄξιον ἐρῶ. ὀφθαλμὸς γὰρ οὐκ εἶδε καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη, ἃ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἐν τῷ φωτὶ τῷ ἀπροσίτῳ, ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τῇ ἀπορρήτῳ καὶ ἀτελευτήτῳ. Καὶ οἱ μὲν δίκαιοι τοιούτων τεύξονται τῶν ἀγαθῶν τοιαύτης δὲ τῆς μακαριότητος· οἱ δὲ τὸν ὄντως ὄντα Θεὸν ἀρνησάμενοι, καὶ τὸν πλάστην καὶ δημιουργὸν ἀγνοήσαντες, δαίμοσι δὲ μιαροῖς λατρεύσαντες, καὶ εἰδώλοις κωφοῖς τὸ σέβας ἀπονείμαντες, τὰς ἡδονάς τε τοῦ ματαίου βίου τούτου ποθήσαντες, καὶ δίκην χοίρων τῷ βορβόρῳ τῶν παθῶν κυλισθέντες, καὶ πάσης κακίας ὁρμητήριον τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχὰς ποιησάμενοι, σταθήσονται γυμνοὶ καὶ τετραχηλισμένοι, κατησχυμμένοι καὶ κατηφεῖς, ἐλεεινοὶ καὶ τῷ σχήματι καὶ τῷ πράγματι, ὄνειδος προκείμενοι πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει. πάντα δὲ αὐτῶν τὰ ἐν λόγῳ, τὰ ἐν ἔργῳ, τὰ ἐν διανοίᾳ, πρὸ προσώπου αὐτῶν ἐλεύσονται. εἶτα, μετὰ τὴν αἰσχύνην ἐκείνην τὴν χαλεπωτάτην καὶ τὸ ὄνειδος ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἀφόρητον, καταδικασθήσονται εἰς τὸ πῦρ τῆς γεέννης τὸ ἄσβεστον καὶ ἀφεγγές, εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον, τὸν βρυγμὸν τῶν ὀδόντων καὶ σκώληκα τὸν ἰοβόλον. αὕτη ἡ μερὶς αὐτῶν, οὗτος ὁ κλῆρος, οἷς εἰς αἰῶνας συνέσονται τοὺς ἀτελευτήτους τιμωρούμενοι, ἀνθ' ὧν, τὰ ἐν ἐπαγγελίαις ἀγαθὰ παρωσάμενοι, διὰ πρόσκαιρον ἁμαρτίας ἡδονὴν κόλασιν αἰώνιον ἐξελέξαντο. ὑπὲρ δὴ 384 τούτων, ὥστε τῆς ἀρρήτου μὲν χαρᾶς ἐκείνης ἐπιτυχεῖν καὶ τῆς ἀπορρήτου δόξης ἀπολαύειν, τοῖς ἀγγέλοις δὲ ἀντιλάμπειν, καὶ τῷ ἀγαθῷ καὶ γλυκυτάτῳ ∆εσπότῃ μετὰ παρρησίας παρίστασθαι, τὰς πικροτάτας δὲ τιμωρίας καὶ ἀτελευτήτους καὶ τὴν ὀδυνηρὰν ἐκείνην ἐκφυγεῖν αἰσχύνην, πόσα οὐκ ἄξιον προέσθαι καὶ χρήματα καὶ σώματα, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ αὐτὰς τὰς ψυχάς; τίς οὕτως ἀγεννής, τίς οὕτως ἀσύνετος, ὡς μὴ μυρίους ὑποστῆναι προσκαίρους θανάτους, ἵνα τοῦ αἰωνίου ἀπαλλαγῇ καὶ ἀτελευτήτου θανάτου, τὴν ζωὴν δὲ κληρονομήσῃ τὴν μακαρίαν τε καὶ ἀνώλεθρον, καὶ τῷ φωτὶ περιλαμφθῇ τῆς μακαρίας καὶ ζωαρχικῆς Τριάδος;