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For I know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We must not, he says, be troubled if we suffer evil. For we reap many things from this. But see how 95.729 he shows the excess of the things to come compared to the things present. For having said earthly, he contrasted it with the heavenly; having said, a house of a tabernacle, and showing its easy dissolution, he contrasted it with the eternal. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. And what house? The incorruptible body. And why, in this we groan? Because that one is much better. From heaven, he says, because of its incorruptibility. For the body does not come down to us from above, but by this name he indicates the grace sent from there. As if he should say: Do you groan, because your outward man perishes? Thus groaning, because this does not happen with excess, nor does he perish entirely. If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon. That is, if having received incorruptibility there we might not be seen naked of glory and of security. But he says this, so that we may not all be confident from the resurrection alone, but may also pursue brilliant works. For the resurrection is common to all, but the glory is no longer common, but some are in honor, others in dishonor; and some to the kingdom, others to punishment. That mortality might be swallowed up by life. I do not say, he says, that we groan in order to put off the body, but in order that we might be clothed upon with incorruptibility for it. For we are burdened, not because we have a body, but because we are clothed with a corruptible one. Now he that has wrought us for this very thing is God. He shows that these things were prefigured from above. For not now, he says, did this seem good, but when from the beginning he formed us from the earth. But how it happens, do not seek, he says; for what God does, do not curiously inquire. Therefore he says, Now he that has wrought. And giving us the earnest of the Spirit. He constantly calls it an earnest, wishing to show himself a debtor for the whole. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. The 'being confident,' relates to persecutions, to plots, to deaths. As if he said: Does someone drive, and persecute, and kill? Do not be downcast. For it happens on your behalf. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent. 95.732 The greatest of all things, he has placed last. For to be with Christ is better than to receive an incorruptible house. What he says is this: he who persecutes and kills does not extinguish our life. For not only does it deliver you from corruption and burden, but it also sends you quickly to God. But see how he has hidden the painful things and the name of death and of the end, and has set in contrast the things greatly desired, calling them a being at home with the Lord, and the things that seem sweet, leaving aside the things of life, he has named them from painful things, having called the life here a being away from the Lord. And he said this, so that no one should linger lovingly on present things, but should even be burdened by them, nor, when about to die, be grieved, but should rejoice as one departing to greater good things. Then, lest anyone hearing that we are away from the Lord should say, 'What are you saying? Are we then alienated while being here?', he corrected this beforehand, saying: For we walk by faith, not by sight. As if he said: Even here we are His, but not so clearly. And this is what he said elsewhere, in a mirror and in a riddle. to be well pleasing to Him. For the thing sought, he says, is this: whether we are there, or here, to live according to His will, and so that again, having come to so great a desire, they might not be grieved at the delay of their departure. From here he already gives them the chief of good things. But what is this, 'to be well-pleasing'? For it is not simply good to depart, but to depart having been approved. For we must all appear before the

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Οἶδα μὲν γὰρ ὅτι, ἐὰν ἡ ἐπίγειος ἡμῶν οἰκία τοῦ σκήνους καταλυθῇ, οἰκοδομὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἔχομεν, οἰκίαν ἀχειροποίητον αἰώνιον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Οὐ δεῖ, φησὶ, θορυβεῖσθαι εἰ κακῶς πάσχομεν. Καὶ γὰρ πολλὰ ἐντεῦθεν καρπούμεθα. Ὅρα δὲ πῶς 95.729 δείκνυσι τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῶν μελλόντων πρὸς τὰ παρόντα. Εἰπὼν γὰρ ἐπίγειον, ἀντέθηκε τὴν οὐράνιον· εἰπὼν, οἰκείαν σκήνους, καὶ τὸ εὐδιάλυτον δείξας, ἀντέθηκε, τὴν αἰώνιον. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ στενάζομεν, τὸ οἰκητήριον ἡμῶν, τὸ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ, ἐπενδύσασθαι ἐπιποθοῦντες. Καὶ ποῖον οἰκητήριον; Τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἄφθαρτον. Καὶ διὰ τί, ἐν τούτῳ στενάζομεν; Ἐπεὶ πολλῷ βέλτιον ἐκεῖνο. Ἐξ οὐρανοῦ δὲ τοῦτο, φησὶ, διὰ τὸ ἄφθαρτον. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ ἄνωθεν ἡμῖν κάτεισι τὸ σῶμα, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν χάριν πεμπομένην δηλοῖ τῷ ὀνόματι τούτῳ. Ὡς ἂν εἰ λέγοι· Στένεις, ὅτι φθείρεταί σου ὁ ἔξω ἄνθρωπος; οὕτως στενάζων, ὅτι μὴ μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς τοῦτο γίνεται, μηδὲ ὁλόκληρος φθείρεται. Εἴ γε καὶ ἐνδυσάμενοι, οὐ γυμνοὶ εὑρεθησόμεθα. Καὶ γὰρ οἱ ὄντες ἐν τῷ σκήνει, στενάζομεν βαρούμενοι, ἐφ' ᾧ οὐ θέλομεν ἐκδύσασθαι, ἀλλ' ἐπενδύσασθαι. Τουτέστι, καὶ εἰ ἐκεῖ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν λαβόντες μὴ γυμνοὶ τῆς δόξης καὶ τῆς ἀσφαλείας ὀφθῶμεν. Τοῦτο δέ φησιν, ἵνα μὴ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως μόνον πάντες θαῤῥῶμεν, ἀλλὰ ἐπιτηδεύσωμεν καὶ ἔργα λαμπρά. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἀνάστασις κοινὴ πάντων, ἡ δὲ δόξα οὐκέτι κοινὴ, ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν ἐν τιμῇ, οἱ δὲ ἐν ἀτιμίᾳ· καὶ οἱ μὲν εἰς βασιλείαν, οἱ δὲ εἰς κόλασιν. Ἵνα καταποθῇ τὸ θνητὸν ὑπὸ τῆς ζωῆς. Οὐ λέγω, φησὶν, ὅτι στενάζομεν, ἵνα τὸ σῶμα ἀποθώμεθα, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἐπενδυσώμεθα αὐτῷ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν. Καὶ γὰρ βαρυνόμεθα, οὐχ ὅτι σῶμα ἔχομεν, ἀλλ' ὅτι φθαρτὸν περικείμεθα. Ὁ δὲ κατεργασάμενος ἡμᾶς εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο Θεός. ∆είκνυσιν ἄνωθεν ταῦτα προτυπωθέντα. Οὐ γὰρ νῦν, φησὶ, τοῦτο ἔδοξεν, ἀλλ' ὅτε ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔπλαττεν ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ γῆς. Πῶς δὲ γίνεται, τοῦτο μὴ ζήτει, φησίν· ἃ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς ποιεῖ, μὴ περιεργάζου. ∆ιὸ φησὶν, Ὁ δὲ κατεργασάμενος. Καὶ διδοὺς ἡμῖν τὸν ἀῤῥαβῶνα τοῦ πνεύματος. Συνεχῶς ἀῤῥαβῶνα καλεῖ, ὀφειλετὴν ἑαυτὸν δείξαι βουλόμενος τοῦ παντός. Θαῤῥοῦντες οὖν πάντοτε, καὶ εἰδότες, ὅτι ἐνδημοῦντες ἐν τῷ σώματι, ἐκδημοῦμεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου. ∆ιὰ πίστεως γὰρ περιπατοῦμεν, οὐ διὰ εἴδους. Τὸ θαῤῥοῦντες, πρὸς τοὺς διωγμοὺς, πρὸς τὰς ἐπιβουλὰς, πρὸς τοὺς θανάτους. Ὡς εἰ ἔλεγεν· ἐλαύνει τις, καὶ διώκει, καὶ ἀναιρεῖ; μὴ καταπέσῃς. Ὑπὲρ γάρ σου γίνεται. Θαῤῥοῦμεν δὲ καὶ εὐδοκοῦμεν μᾶλλον ἐκδημῆσαι ἐκ τοῦ σώματος, καὶ ἐνδημῆσαι πρὸς τὸν Κύριον. ∆ιὸ καὶ φιλοτιμούμεθα, εἴτε ἐνδημοῦντες, εἴτε ἐκδημοῦντες. 95.732 Τὸ μεῖζον πάντων, ὕστερον τέθεικεν. Τοῦ γὰρ οἰκίαν ἄφθαρτον λαβεῖν, τὸ μετὰ Χριστοῦ εἶναι βέλτιον. Ὃ δὲ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστι· οὐ σβέννυσιν ἡμῶν τὴν ζωὴν, ὁ διώκων καὶ ἀναιρῶν. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον φθορᾶς σε ἀπαλλάττει καὶ βάρους, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ Θεῷ παραπέμπει ταχέως. Ὅρα δὲ πῶς ἔκρυψεν τὰ λυπηρὰ καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τῆς τελευτῆς, καὶ τὰ σφόδρα ποθεινὰ ἀντέθηκεν, ἐπιδημίαν αὐτὰ καλῶν πρὸς τὸν Κύριον, καὶ τὰ δοκοῦντα γλυκέα, ἀφεὶς τὰ τῆς ζωῆς, ἀπὸ τῶν λυπηρῶν αὐτὰ ὠνόμασεν, ἐκδημίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου τὴν ἐνταῦθα καλέσας ζωήν. Τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγεν, ἵνα μηδεὶς μήτε τοῖς παροῦσι ἐμφιλοχωρῇ, ἀλλὰ καὶ βαρύνηται, μήτε μέλλων τελευτᾷν λυπῆται, καὶ χαίρῃ ὡς εἰς μείζονα ἀπιὼν ἀγαθά. Εἶτα ἵνα μή τις εἴπῃ, ἀκούων ὅτι ἐκδημοῦμεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου, Τί ταῦτα λέγεις; ἀλλοτριούμεθα οὖν ἐνταῦθα ὄντες; προδιώρθωσεν τοῦτο, εἰπών· ∆ιὰ πίστεως γὰρ περιπατοῦμεν, οὐ διὰ εἴδους. Ὡς εἰ ἔλεγε· Καὶ ἐνταῦθα μὲν αὐτοῦ ἐσμεν, ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτω σαφῶς. Καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ὃ ἀλλαχοῦ ἔλεγεν, ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ καὶ ἐν αἰνίγματι. Εὐάρεστοι αὐτῷ εἶναι. Τὸ γὰρ ζητούμενον, τοῦτό ἐστι, φησίν· ἄν τε ἐκεῖ ὦμεν, ἄν τε ἐνταῦθα, κατὰ γνώμην αὐτοῦ ζῇν, καὶ ἵνα πάλιν μὴ εἰς τοσαύτην ἐλθόντες ἐπιθυμίαν, λυπῶνται πρὸς τὴν μέλλησιν τῆς ἐκδημίας. Ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη δίδωσιν αὐτοῖς τὸ κεφάλαιον τῶν καλῶν. Τί δὲ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ, εὐαρέστους εἶναι; Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ ἐξελθεῖν ἁπλῶς καλὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ εὐδοκιμοῦντας ἀπελθεῖν. Τοὺς γὰρ πάντας ἡμᾶς φανερωθῆναι δεῖ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ