83

to the worse souls that have been condemned; which, because of the multitude of those who are perishing, he says has become more spacious so as to receive all. For Hades is not some living being, nor is it some power appointed over the dying, according to the mythology of the outsiders. Therefore, those who, because of not knowing the Lord, have become captives and have been wasted away by hunger and thirst for spiritual food, descend into Hades, with the glorious and the great and the rich and the pestilent. And there are three things threatened concerning sinners: captivity and death and descent into Hades. For captivity is the fall from the former life, by the deceit of the enemy, who leads us out of the blessedness in paradise; death is the alienation from the life-giving commandment; and descent into Hades is the separation from God that occurs because of the great outpouring of sin and the disposition contrary to the good. For just as the righteous one has already been raised with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places, so the unrighteous one is said to be already a captive and dead and to have descended into Hades through sins unto death. And the word has enumerated the differences of the orders descending into Hades; first, the glorious; these would be those held in some good repute, not in every case having testimony from their life that follows their outward appearance; then the great, those who surpass the many in some power and authority; and the rich, those clothed in a great multitude of unjust wealth, or those having an insatiable desire for more; and her pestilent ones, as many as, like a destructive disease spreading by transmission, corrupt those who approach them, either by wicked teaching or by the provocation to sin, are justly called pestilent. These are they who descend into Hades. And he that rejoices (he says) in her. This would be the Jew in the flesh, rejoicing in the earthly Jerusalem, but not looking to the blessedness laid up for the Saints of God. But observe that the phrase, "In her," is spoken according to common usage; just as in private houses it is customary for the masters of them often to be addressed by the inhabitants. Such is also the phrase, "His foundations are in the holy mountains." And so he that rejoices in her will descend into Hades. 5.167 And man (he says) shall be humbled, and a man shall be dishonored. It is not in place that one suffers humbling, so much as in choice. For the righteous is exalted by a heavenly mind, but the impious is humbled by his sympathy for things below. For the common man, puffed up by only the common advantages of nature, not living according to the power inherent in him from his first creation, is humbled; but he who has already made some progress and is already worthy of being called a man, whenever, having grown soft, he gives in to the passions, will be dishonored. For this reason, "Man shall be humbled," but "a man shall be dishonored"; because the one did not guard what is common, while the other, through his turn for the worse, was deprived of the good that had come to him through discipline. For man is humbled; for the eyes of the Lord are lofty, but man is lowly. But a man is dishonored, as one who despises God through the transgression of the Commandments. For those who despise him will be dishonored, as we have heard the Lord saying in the first book of Kings: "Those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be dishonored." Therefore, a man will be dishonored by his own sin; for sin makes one dishonored. For these (he says) shall rise to eternal life, and these to eternal reproach and shame. For since honor is the rendering of a prize, and a prize is the reward of virtue, to the Saints both honor and a prize are awarded, but to the impious the opposites. For God honors the worthy; For He is what is truly honorable and the bestower of honor; because one who is dishonored cannot acquire honor. But he dishonors

83

τὸ χεῖρον κατεγνωσμέναις ψυ χαῖς· ὃ διὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀπολλυμένων, ὥστε ὑποδέξασθαι πάντας εὐρυχωρότερόν φησι γεγενῆσθαι. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ ζῶόν τι ὁ ᾅδης, οὐδὲ δύναμίς τις ἐπιτεταγμένη τοῖς ἀποθνή σκουσι, κατὰ τὴν μυθοποιίαν τῶν ἔξωθεν. Οἱ οὖν διὰ τὸ μὴ εἰδέναι τὸν Κύριον, αἰχμάλωτοι γενόμενοι καὶ λιμῷ καὶ δίψει τῆς πνευματικῆς τροφῆς ἐκτακέντες, εἰς ᾅδου καταβαίνουσι, μετὰ τῶν ἐνδόξων καὶ μεγάλων καὶ πλου σίων καὶ λοιμῶν. Τρία δέ ἐστι τὰ περὶ τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας ἀπειληθέντα· αἰχμαλωσία καὶ νέκρωσις καὶ εἰς ᾅδου κάθοδος. Αἰχμαλωσία μὲν γάρ ἐστιν ἡ ἀπὸ τῆς προηγουμένης ζωῆς κατάπτωσις, κατὰ ἀπάτην τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, ὑπεξάγοντος ἡμᾶς τῆς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ μακαριότητος· νέκρωσις δὲ ἡ τῆς ζωοποιοῦ ἐντολῆς ἀλλοτρίωσις· εἰς ᾅδου δὲ κατάβασις, ὁ διὰ τὴν πολλὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας χύσιν καὶ τὴν ἐναντίαν τῷ ἀγαθῷ διάθεσιν, ἀπὸ Θεοῦ γινόμενος χωρισμός. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ δίκαιος ἤδη συνηγέρθη Χριστῷ καὶ συνεκάθισεν ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις, οὕτως ὁ ἄδικος αἰχμάλωτος ἤδη καὶ νεκρὸς καὶ εἰς ᾅδου διὰ τῶν πρὸς θάνατον ἁμαρτημάτων κατα βεβηκὼς λέγεται. ∆ιαφορὰς δὲ ταγμάτων καταβαινόντων εἰς τὸν ᾅδην ὁ λόγος ἀπηριθμήσατο· πρῶτον τοὺς ἐνδόξους· οὗτοι δ' ἂν εἶεν οἱ ἐν ὑπολήψει τινὶ δεξιᾷ, οὐ πάντως ἔχοντες τῷ ἐπιφαινομένῳ σχήματι τὴν ἐκ τοῦ βίου μαρτυρίαν ἀκο λουθοῦσαν· εἶτα οἱ μεγάλοι, οἱ ἐν δυνάμει τινὶ καὶ ἀρχῇ τῶν πολλῶν ὑπερέχοντες· καὶ οἱ πλούσιοι, οἱ πολὺ πλῆθος χρημάτων ἄδικον περιβεβλημένοι, ἢ οἱ ἀκόρεστον τὴν ἐπι θυμίαν τοῦ πλείονος ἔχοντες· καὶ οἱ λοιμοὶ αὐτῆς, ὅσοι δίκην νόσου φθοροποιοῦ κατὰ διάδοσιν ἐπινεμομένης, τοὺς προσιόντας αὐτοῖς διαφθείροντες, ἤτοι ἐκ μοχθηρᾶς διδασκα λίας, ἢ ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐρεθισμοῦ, λοιμοὶ δι καίως προσαγορεύονται. Οἵτινες καταβαίνουσιν εἰς τὸν ᾅδην. Καὶ ὁ ἀγαλλιώμενος (φησὶν) ἐν αὐτῇ. Οὗτος δ' ἂν εἴη ὁ ἐν σαρκὶ Ἰουδαῖος, τῇ γηΐνῃ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐναγαλλιώμενος, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἀποκειμένην τοῖς Ἁγίοις τοῦ Θεοῦ μακαριότητα μὴ βλέπων. Τήρει δὲ ὅτι τὸ, Ἐν αὐτῇ, κατὰ τὴν κοινὴν συν ήθειαν εἴρηται· ὡς καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἰδιωτικῶν οἴκων πολλάκις τοὺς ὑπερέχοντας αὐτοὺς προσαγορεύεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἐνοι κούντων σύνηθες. Τοιοῦτόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ Οἱ θεμέλιοι αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι τοῖς ἁγίοις. Καὶ ὁ τοίνυν ἀγαλλιώμενος ἐν αὐτῇ, εἰς ᾅδου καταβήσεται. 5.167 Καὶ ταπεινωθήσεται ἄνθρωπος (φησὶ) καὶ ἀτιμα σθήσεται ἀνήρ. Οὐ τόπῳ παθεῖν ἐστι τὴν ταπείνωσιν, ὅσον ἐν προαιρέσει. Ὑψοῦται μὲν γὰρ ὁ δίκαιος τῷ οὐρανίῳ φρονήματι, ταπεινοῦ ται δὲ ὁ ἀσεβὴς διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὰ κάτω συμπάθειαν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ κοινὸς ἄνθρωπος, ὁ μόνοις τοῖς κοινοῖς τῆς φύσεως πλεο νεκτήμασιν ἐπηρμένος, μὴ ζῶν κατὰ τὴν ἐνυπάρχουσαν αὐτῷ ἐκ τῆς πρώτης κατασκευῆς δύναμιν, ταπεινοῦται· ὁ δὲ ἤδη καὶ ἐν προκοπῇ τινι γενόμενος καὶ ἄξιος ἤδη τοῦ ἀνὴρ χρημα τίζειν, ἐπειδὰν καταμαλακισθεὶς ἐνδῷ πρὸς τὰ πάθη, ἀτιμα σθήσεται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ μὲν Ἄνθρωπος ταπεινωθήσεται, ὁ δὲ ἀνὴρ ἀτιμασθήσεται· ὅτι ὁ μὲν τὸ κοινὸν οὐκ ἐφύλαξεν, ὁ δὲ καὶ τὸ ἐξ ἀσκήσεως αὐτῷ περιγενόμενον ἀγαθὸν διὰ τῆς ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον τροπῆς ἐζημιώθη. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ταπεινοῦται· οἱ γὰρ ὀφθαλμοὶ Κυρίου ὑψηλοὶ, ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος ταπεινός. Ὁ δὲ ἀνὴρ ἀτιμάζεται, ὡς ἐξουθενῶν τὸν Θεὸν διὰ τῆς τῶν Ἐντολῶν παραβάσεως. Οἱ γὰρ ἐξουθενοῦντες αὐτὸν ἀτιμασθήσονται, ὡς ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Βασιλειῶν ἠκούσαμεν τοῦ Κυρίου, λέγοντος· Τοὺς δοξάζοντάς με δοξάσω, καὶ οἱ ἐξουθενοῦντές με ἀτιμασθήσονται. Ἀτι μασθήσεται οὖν ἀνὴρ ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας ἁμαρτίας· ἀτιμοποιὸς γὰρ ἡ ἁμαρτία. Ἀναστήσονται γὰρ (φησὶν) οὗτοι εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, καὶ οὗτοι εἰς ὀνειδισμὸν καὶ αἰσχύνην αἰώνιον. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τιμή ἐστι γέρως ἀπόδοσις, γέρας δέ ἐστιν ἆθλον ἀρετῆς, τοῖς μὲν Ἁγίοις καὶ τιμὴ καὶ γέρας ἀπονέ μεται, τοῖς δὲ ἀσεβέσι τὰ ἐναντία. Τιμᾷ μὲν γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς τοὺς ἀξίους· Αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστι τὸ ὄντως τίμιον καὶ τιμῆς παρεκτικόν· διότι οὐ δύναται τὴν τιμὴν περιποιῆσαι ὁ ἠτι μωμένος. Ἀτιμάζει δὲ