75

the activity of the Devil, the Lord's sojourn with men. But when the Lord had ascended into the heavens, the Devil himself will carry on his own and accustomed activities, and men on earth will use their free will, just as 222 they were accustomed to use it; for the Devil attempts to lead everyone astray. But some are persuaded, while others, being disobedient, struggle against the evil one. But perhaps someone will say: And why indeed, after being held back and thwarted from his own impulse during the Lord's bodily presence, was the Devil let loose again against us to lead astray those on earth? For would it not have been better for him to have been bound, and for men to remain unerring? To whom must be said: For why do you not rather say yourself why the Devil came to be in the beginning, or having come to be and having transgressed, why was he not completely annihilated, so that he would not be given a free hand against men? And how, O man, would the contenders have been trained, with no one wrestling against them? And how would the strength of the athletes have been demonstrated, if there were no antagonist? For the indolent among men and those overcome by pleasures, even without the Devil being present or provoking them, are perverse of themselves; but the men of God and noble contenders would have been wronged by not publicly displaying their courage against the passions; so that it follows, that the indolent are not helped at all by Satan's absence, and the diligent are wronged in the greatest things. For Satan exists in a certain manner as a trainer of men, providing an occasion for crowns to those who contend. For the lovers of sin, who even in the absence of the Devil use their own indolence in place of the Devil, are not wronged, as has been said. So that he unwillingly benefits some, while he wrongs others not at all, or very little. But would you have wished, for the sake of me and you, the slaves of sin, both remiss and prostrate, so that we might not be additionally wronged a little or absolutely not at all by the activity of the Devil, for patriarchs and prophets, apostles and evangelists and those who have remained in the testimony of Christ unto blood and have kept what is genuine for him, and moreover confessors and the pastors who have rightly led the churches and the most steadfast ascetics and every righteous person perfected in the faith of Christ, of whom this world is not worthy, to be depri 223 ved of glory? So that the noble contenders of virtue compensate for the loss suffered by the sinners who are wronged very little. For one who succeeds is to be preferred by God over ten thousand who fail. Therefore both things have been done most beautifully and divinely: both that the unholy impulses of the Devil were thwarted in the Lord's presence, and that after his ascension into heaven he was loosed for the testing of men. For if Satan had been permitted to display all his own activity while the Lord was sojourning on earth, he would not have allowed men to become hearers of his divine teaching, nor to learn who is by nature and truly God, and what is the holy worship of him, and what is vice and what is virtue; but he would have also prepared the cross for him before the time and before he began his teaching. And if this had happened, the incarnation of the Lord and so great and so admirable a mystery would have been incomplete, or rather, useless. But after those on earth were taught these things while the Devil was in bondage, they were then permitted to use their own free will and to struggle against the adversary on the acknowledged and unknown paths of both vice and virtue. For one who knows the good and what is not so, with self-prompted impulses, cer 224 tainly chooses either this or that; but one who is ignorant of what he should do, as if wounded in a night battle and not perceiving that he has even been struck, does not even know his own destruction. For in the case of one who has knowledge of the opposites, there is scope for free will to choose what it wishes, but in the case of one who is ignorant, there is no scope. But God from the beginning made man with free will and governed by sovereign reasonings. And that it is necessary first to know virtue and vice, so that in this way there may be scope for free will, see what the hierophant Moses says to the disobedient of the

75

τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου ἡ τοῦ Κυρίου μετὰ ἀνθρώπων ἀναστροφή. τοῦ δέ γε Κυρίου ἀνεληλυθότος εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς, αὐτός τε ὁ ∆ιάβολος τὰ οἰκεῖα καὶ εἰωθότα ἐνεργήσει, καὶ οἱ ἐπὶ γῆς ἄνθρωποι τῷ αὐτεξουσίῳ, ὥσπερ 222 ἐχρῶντο, χρήσονται· ὁ μὲν γὰρ ∆ιάβολος πάντας ἐπιχειρεῖ πλανᾶν. ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν πείθονται, οἱ δὲ ἀπειθοῦντες καταγωνίζονται τὸν πονηρόν. ἀλλ' ἴσως ἐρεῖ τις· καὶ τί δήποτε ἐπεχόμενος καὶ ἀνακοπτόμενος τῆς οἰκείας ὁρμῆς ὁ ∆ιάβολος ἐν τῇ τοῦ Κυρίου σωματικῇ παρουσίᾳ, πρὸς ἡμᾶς πάλιν ἀφείθη πλανᾶν τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς; οὐ γὰρ ἦν βέλτιον αὐτὸν δεδέσθαι, καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀπλανεῖς διαμένειν; πρὸς ὃν λεκτέον· τί γὰρ οὐ μᾶλλον λέγεις αὐτὸς τὴν ἀρχὴν διὰ τί γέγονεν ὁ ∆ιάβολος, ἢ γενόμενος καὶ παραβὰς τί μὴ τέλεον ἐξηφανίσθη, ὡς μὴ γενέσθαι αὐτῷ πάραδον κατὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων; καὶ πῶς ἄν, ὦ οὗτος, διεγυμνάσθησαν οἱ ἀγωνισταὶ μηδενὸς προσπαλαίοντος; πῶς δὲ καὶ διεδείχθη τῶν ἀθλητῶν ἡ ἰσχύς, μὴ ὄντος ἀνταγωνιστοῦ; οἱ μὲν γὰρ ῥάθυμοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῶν ἡδονῶν ἥττους, καὶ μὴ παρόντος μηδὲ προσερεθίζοντος τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου, ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσι σκαιοί· οἱ δέ γε τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι καὶ γενναῖοι ἀγωνισταὶ ἠδικήθησαν ἂν τὴν κατὰ τῶν παθῶν ἀνδρείαν μὴ δημοσιεύοντες· ὡς συμβαίνειν, καὶ τοὺς ῥαθύμους μηδὲν ὠφελεῖσθαι μὴ ὄντος τοῦ Σατανᾶ, καὶ τοὺς σπουδαίους τὰ μέγιστα ἀδικεῖσθαι. ὁ γὰρ Σατανᾶς παιδοτρίβης τρόπον τινὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑπάρχει, πρόφασιν παρέχων στεφάνων τοῖς ἀγωνιζομένοις. οἱ γὰρ φιλαμαρτήμονες, οἱ καὶ μὴ παρόντος τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου τῇ σφῶν αὐτῶν ῥαθυμίᾳ ἀντὶ ∆ιαβόλου χρώμενοι, οὐδὲ ἠδίκηνται, καθὼς εἴρηται. ὥστε τοὺς μὲν ἄκων εὐεργετεῖ, τοὺς δὲ οὐδὲν ἀδικεῖ, ἢ λίαν βραχύ. σὺ δὲ ἐβούλου δι' ἐμὲ καὶ σὲ τοὺς δούλους τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ ἀνειμένους καὶ ἀναπεπτωκότας, ἵνα μή τι μικρὸν ἢ παντελῶς οὐδὲν προσαδικηθῶμεν τῇ ἐνεργείᾳ τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου, ἀποστε 223 ρηθῆναι τῆς δόξης πατριάρχας τε καὶ προφήτας, ἀποστόλους καὶ εὐαγγελιστὰς καὶ τοὺς ἄχρις αἵματος τῇ μαρτυρίᾳ Χριστοῦ προσμεμενηκότας καὶ τὸ γνήσιον αὐτῷ φυλάξαντας, ἔτι δὲ ὁμολογητὰς καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν καλῶς ἡγησαμένους ποιμένας καὶ τοὺς καρτερικωτάτους ἀσκητὰς καὶ πάντα δίκαιον καὶ τῇ πίστει Χριστοῦ τετελειωμένον, ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄξιος ὁ κόσμος οὗτος. ὥστε τῶν κομιδῆ βραχέα προσαδικουμένων ἁμαρτωλῶν τὴν ζημίαν παραμυθοῦνται οἱ γενναῖοι τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀγωνισταί· εἷς γὰρ κατορθῶν, προτιμητέος θεῷ, μυρίων ἀθετούντων. ἀμφότερα οὖν κάλλιστα καὶ ἐνθεώτατα πέπρακται, καὶ τὸ ἐν τῇ τοῦ Κυρίου παρουσίᾳ τὰς ἀνοσίους ὁρμὰς ἀνακόπτεσθαι τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου, καὶ μετὰ τῆν εἰς οὐρανὸν ἄνοδον αὐτὸν λυθῆναι πρὸς πεῖραν τῶν ἀνθρώπων. εἰ μὲν γὰρ συνεχωρήθη πᾶσαν ἐνδείξασθαι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐνέργειαν ὁ Σατανᾶς, ἐπὶ γῆς ἀναστρεφομένου τοῦ Κυρίου, οὐκ ἂν εἴασε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους οὐδὲ τῆς θείας αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίας ἀκροατὰς γενέσθαι οὔτε μαθεῖν τίς τε ὁ φύσει καὶ ἀληθῶς Θεός, καὶ τίς εἰς αὐτὸν εὐαγὴς θρησκεία, ποία τε ἡ κακία καὶ τίς ἡ ἀρετή· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν σταυρὸν αὐτῷ πρὸ καιροῦ κατεσκευάκει καὶ πρὶν τῆς διδασκαλίας ἄρξασθαι. οὗ γινομένου, ἀτελὴς ἂν ὑπῆρξε, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀνωφελής, ἡ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐνανθρώπησις καὶ τὸ τοσοῦτον καὶ οὕτως ἀξιάγαστον μυστήριον. μεθ' ὃ δὲ τῷ δεσμῷ τοῦ ∆ιαβόλου ταῦτα ἐδιδάχθησαν οἱ ἐπὶ γῆς, ἀφείθησαν λοιπὸν τῷ οἰκείῳ χρῆσθαι αὐτεξουσίῳ καὶ τῇ πρὸς τὸν ἀντίπαλον διαμάχῃ ἐπὶ ὡμολογημέναις καὶ ἀγνωσμέναις ὁδοῖς τῆς τε κακίας καὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς. ὁ μὲν γὰρ εἰδὼς τὸ καλὸν καὶ τὸ οὐ τοιοῦτον, αὐτοκελεύστοις ὁρμαῖς ἢ τοῦτο ἢ ἐκεῖνο πάν 224 τως ἐκλέγεται· ὁ δὲ ἀγνοῶν τί ἂν καὶ πράξειεν, ὡς ἐν νυκτομαχίᾳ τιτρωσκόμενος καὶ ὅτι οὐδὲ βέβληται αἰσθανόμενος, οὐδὲ τὴν οἰκείαν γινώσκει ἀπώλειαν. ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ γνῶσιν ἔχοντος τῶν ἐναντίων χώρα τῷ αὐτοεξουσίῳ εἰς τὸ ἑλέσθαι ὃ βούλεται, ἐπὶ δέ γε τοῦ ἀγνοοῦντος οὐ χώρα. ὁ δὲ Θεὸς αὐτεξούσιον ἐξ ἀρχῆς πεποίηκε τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ αὐτοκρατορικοῖς λογισμοῖς διοικούμενον. ὅτι δὲ δεῖ γινώσκειν πρῶτον ἀρετὴν καὶ κακίαν, ἵνα οὕτω γένηται χώρα τῷ αὐτεξουσίῳ, ὅρα τί φησιν ὁ ἱεροφάντης Μωϋσῆς τῷ ἀπειθεῖ τῶν