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(15Ε_336> From Menander. When a good character adorns natural beauty, the one who approaches is doubly captured. Socrates. The beautiful and the good, I said, increase for men not because of the comeliness of their appearance,

but because of the virtues in their life. One must guard against the kisses of the beautiful, as one does the bites of venomous creatures. DISCOURSE 45. Concerning the coming judgment. (15Ε_338> Matthew 16. The Son of Man is to come in the glory of his

Father with his angels; and then he will repay each person according to his deeds.

1 Corinthians 3. Each one’s work will become manifest. 929 The day will disclose it, because it is revealed by fire; and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

Solomon 12. God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Sirach 17. The Lord will rise up and repay all, and he will repay their recompense upon their own heads.

From Basil. Do not think that I, like some nursing mother, am brandishing false bugbears at you, as they are accustomed to do with infant children, when they wail disorderly and endlessly, silencing them by inventing stories. For this is not a myth, but a truthful word proclaimed aloud. And know for a certainty that there will be a precise examination of things lived.

For according to Hosea, his own counsels will surround each one. For we shall see all our deeds at once, as if standing by us, and appearing face to face to our mind, according to their own forms, so that each one may see himself how it has been done or how it has been said. Moreover, one should not think that periods of time (15Ε_340> will be consumed for each to see himself with his deeds, and the Judge, and the things that follow the divine tribunal; but by an unspeakable power, in a twinkling of time, the mind forming an image, and repainting all things for itself, and as if in a mirror, in the ruling faculty, gazing upon the forms of what has been done.

From the Theologian. O how much better it is to be disciplined and cleansed now, than to be sent to the torment there, when it is the time for judgment, not for cleansing.

Chrysostom. Just as we require an account from our servants not only of their expenditures, but also of their income, examining from where they received this and that; from whom and when and how, and what and how much; so too God demands an accounting not only for what is spent, but also for what is acquired.

Nothing good at all, even if it be small, will be overlooked there by the Judge. For if we are to pay penalties for sins and words and thoughts, much more penalties, much more will the right actions, whether they be great or small, be reckoned.

Those who stumble often, and are not punished, ought to fear and be afraid. For (932) the things of punishment are increased for them through the lack of punishment and the long-suffering of God.

For if those who do not behold the light of the sun endure a life more bitter than any death, what are those who have been deprived of that light likely to suffer.

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(15Ε_336> Μενάνδρου. Ὅταν φύσει τό κάλλος ἐπικοσμεῖ τρόπος Χρηστός, διπλασίως ὁ προσιών ἁλίσκεται. Σωκράτ. Τά καλά τε καί ἀγαθά, ἔφην ἐγώ, οὐ διά τάς ὡραιότητας τῶν ὄψεων,

ἀλλά διά τάς ἐν τῷ βίῳ ἀρετάς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπαύξεσθαι. Τά τῶν καλῶν φιλήματα φυλάττεσθαι δεῖ, ὡς τά τῶν ἰοβόλων δήγματα. ΛΟΓΟΣ ΜΕ´. Περί μελλούσης κρίσεως. (15Ε_338> Ματθ. ιστ´. Μέλλει ὁ Υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔρχεσθαι ἐν δόξῃ τοῦ

Πατρός αὐτοῦ μετά τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ· καί τότε ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατά τά ἔργα αὐτοῦ.

Α´ Κορ. γ´. Ἑκάστου τό ἔργον φανερόν γενήσεται. 929 Ἡ ἡμέρα δηλώσει ὅτι ἐν πυρί ἀποκαλύπτεται· καί ἑκάστου τό ἔργον ὁποῖόν ἐστι, τό πῦρ δοκιμάσει.

Σολομ. ιβ´. Σύμπαν τό ποίημα ἄξει ὁ Θεός εἰς κρίσιν, ἐν παντί παρεωραμένῳ, ἐάν ἀγαθόν, ἐάν πονηρόν.

Σιράχ ιζ´. Ἐξαναστήσεται Κύριος καί ἀνταποδώσει πᾶσι, καί τό ἀνταπόδομα αὐτῶν εἰς κεφαλάς αὐτῶν ἀνταποδώσεις.

Βασιλείου. Μή με νομίσῃς, ὥσπερ μητέρα τινά τροφόν, ψευφῆ σοι μορμολύκεια ἐπισείειν, ὥσπερ ἐκεῖναι ποιεῖν περί τούς νηπίους τῶν παίδων εἰώθασιν, ὅταν θρηνῶσιν ἄτακτα καί ἀπέραντα, δι᾿ ἐπιπλάσεως τῶν διηγημάτων κατασιγάζουσι. Ταῦτα γάρ οὐ μύθος, ἀλλά λόγος ἀψευδής προκεκηρυγμένος φωνεῖ. Καί ἴσθι ἀκριβῶς ὅτι γενήσεται τῶν βεβιωμένων ἔλεγχος ἀκριβής.

Κατά γάρ τόν Ὡσηέ, Κυκλώσει ἕκαστον τά διαβούλια αὐτοῦ. Ὀψόμεθα γάρ ἅμα πάντα οἱονεί παρεστῶτα ἡμῖν τά ἔργα, καί φαινόμενα ἀντιπρόσωπα τῇ διανοίᾳ ἡμῶν, κατά τῶν ἰδίων τύπων, ὡς ἕκαστον ἰδεῖν ἑαυτόν πέπρακται ἤ ὡς λέλεκται. Οὐ μήν χρόνους (15Ε_340> γε προσήκει νομίζειν καταναλωθήσεσθαι, εἰς τό ἕκαστον ἰδεῖν ἑαυτόν μετά τῶν ἑαυτοῦ πράξεων, καί τόν Κριτήν, καί τά ἀκόλουθα τῷ θείῳ δικαστηρίῳ· ἀφάτῳ δέ δυνάμει ἐν ῥοπῇ καιροῦ φαντασιουμένου τοῦ νοῦ, καί πάντα ἀναζωγραφοῦντος ἑαυτῷ, καί οἱονεί ἐν κατόπτρῳ, τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ, ἐνορῶντος τούς τύπους τῶν πεπραγμένων.

Θεολόγου. Ὦ βέλτιον εἶναι νῦν παιδευθῆναι καί καθαρθῆναι, ἤ τῇ ἐκεῖθεν βασάνῳ παραπεμφθῆναι, ἡνίκα κρίσεως καιρός, οὐ καθάρσεως.

Χρυσοστ. Καθάπερ ἡμεῖς τοῖς οἰκέταις τοῖς ἡμετέροις, οὐχί τῆς ἐξόδου μόνον, ἀλλά καί τῆς εἰσόδου ποιοῦμεν τόν λόγον, ἐξετάζοντες πόθεν ὑπεδέξαντο τάδε καί τάδε· παρά τίνων καί πότε καί πῶς, καί ποῖα καί πόσα οὕτω καί ὁ Θεός, οὐχί τῆς δαπάνης μόνον, ἀλλά καί τῆς κτήσεως ἀπαιτεῖ τάς εὐθύνας.

Οὐδέν ὅλως τῶν ἀγαθῶν, κἄν μικρόν εἴη, παροφθήσεται ἐκεῖ παρά τοῦ Κριτοῦ. Εἰ γάρ ἁμαρτημάτων καί ῥημάτων καί ἐνθυμημάτων τιννύειν μέλομεν τιμωρίας, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τιμωρίας, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τά κατορθώματα, κἄν μεγάλα ᾖ, κἄν μικρά, λογισθήσεται.

Οἱ τά πολλά πταίοντες, καί μή κολαζόμενοι, φοβεῖσθαι καί δεδοικέναι ὀφείλουσιν. Αὔξεται γάρ (932) αὐτοῖς τά τῆς τιμωρίας διά τῆς ἀτιμωρησίας καί τῆς μακροθυμιάς τοῦ Θεοῦ.

Εἰ γάρ οἱ τό φῶς τό ἡλιακόν μή θεώμενοι, παντός θανάτου πικροτέραν ὑπομένουσι ζωήν, τί παθεῖν εἰκός τούς τοῦ φωτός ἀποστερηθέντας ἐκείνου.