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restores from enemies; and not only so, but also makes them unapproachable to adversaries.

Have you seen the glory, you who truly desire it? Have you understood the greatness of the image described and how much each of us falls short of the glory and splendor of the saints? For this image is a type of the things accomplished in us, not devised by us, God forbid, but pre-existing and made by God. For in creation, the craftsman, the Word of God, as on a canvas sketched beforehand the things that were later to come for our salvation and re-creation, so that seeing the type appearing in sensible things we might not disbelieve that the true reality is also spiritually accomplished and brought to completion in our own affairs, but knowing that each of us is a second world brought forth by God, a great one in this small and visible world, as one of the theologians also testifies with me, we should not wish to appear in any way worse than the irrational or even inanimate things made for our instruction by the man-loving God, but rather let us emulate all good things, and with all our strength flee the imitation of the contrary things.

And that I may pass over the other things, having said this one thing for your remembrance, I will bring my discourse to a close. Let everyone who hears know that, just as we see day coming from night and (202) night again from day, so it is necessary to believe and be persuaded that we who are in the darkness of sin and have continued in it since birth can through faith and the working of the commandments be led up to a divine day and spiritual illumination, just as again through sloth and contempt and negligence we fall into our former evils and come under the night of sin. Therefore we must in this imitate our minister, if no one else, and servant, the sun. For just as that one never ceases to rise and to shine, but eternally fulfills the command of the Master, so also let us not wish through negligence to sit in the darkness of pleasures and passions; but rather, keeping the command of the one who said: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," and being cleansed through daily and unceasing repentance and the tears shed from it and through it and every other good work, let us hasten to return to the unwaning light as sons of light. For thus we ourselves again, an immaterial day and a new earth and new heavens, having the sun of righteousness shining within ourselves, will serve as an example to our neighbors, declaring the commandments of God and his glory not with empty and vain words, but narrating them by the deeds themselves, becoming practical teachers in everything and to all the more negligent of the brethren and rendering them without excuse.

Let us not therefore lead our neighbors into sloth by saying: "How then can this or that be accomplished by men?", and from this make them more hesitant in the work of the commandments. For that many things are impossible for the many, I too agree, (303) for the slothful like me and those who do not choose to despise the world and to consider all things in it as dung, for those attached to vain glory and desiring riches and delighting in praises and honors from men, for those wretchedly held by conceit and pride along with these things. For I will willingly pass over, for the present, those who wallow like swine in the filthy deeds of the evils of sin, who, carrying the house of their soul empty of him who dwells in the faithful and so cries out daily: "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world," align themselves with the adversary. For in those who through faith and self-denial have followed Christ and God with faith and love and humility and have acquired him with the Father and the Spirit within themselves all things

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ἐχθρῶν ἀποκαθιστᾷ· οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί ἀπροσίτους αὐτούς τοῖς ὑπεναντίοις ἐργάζεται.

Εἴδετε δόξαν οἱ ταύτην ὄντως ποθοῦντες; Συνήκατε τῆς λεχθείσης εἰκόνος τό μέγεθος καί ὅσον ἕκαστος ἡμῶν τῆς τῶν ἁγίων δόξης καί λαμπρότητος ὑστερεῖ; Ἡ γάρ εἰκών αὕτη τύπος τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν τελουμένων ἐστίν, οὐχ ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν ἐπινοηθεῖσα, μή γένοιτο, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπό τοῦ Θεοῦ προϋποστᾶσα καί γενομένη. Ἐν γάρ τῇ κτίσει ὁ τεχνίτης Θεοῦ Λόγος ὡς ἐν πίνακι προεζωγράφησε τά ὕστερον μέλλοντα εἰς σωτηρίαν ἡμῶν καί ἀνάπλασιν γίνεσθαι, ἵνα τόν τύπον ἐν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς φαινόμενον βλέποντες μή ἀπιστήσωμεν ὅτι καί ἐν τοῖς καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς πνευματικῶς τελεῖται καί περαιοῦται ἡ ὄντως ἀλήθεια, ἀλλ᾿ εἰδότες ὅτι ἕκαστος ἡμῶν δεύτερος κόσμος ὑπό Θεοῦ, μέγας ἐν τῷ μικρῷ τούτῳ κόσμῳ καί ὁρωμένῳ, παράγεται, καθά μοι καί τις τῶν θεολόγων συμμαρτυρεῖ, μή χείρονες ἐν μηδενί φανῆναι θελήσωμεν τῶν εἰς διδασκαλίαν ἡμῶν γενομένων ἀλόγων ἤ καί ἀψύχων ὑπό τοῦ φιλανθρώπου Θεοῦ, ἀλλά τά μέν καλά ζηλώσωμεν ἅπαντα, τῶν δέ ἐναντίων τήν μίμησιν φύγωμεν ὅση δύναμις.

Καί ἵνα τἆλλα παρήσω ὄντα, τοῦτο μόνον εἰς ὑπόμνησιν ὑμῶν λέξας, καταπαύσω τόν λόγον. Ἴστω πᾶς ὁ ἀκούων ὅτι, ὥσπερ ἀπό νυκτός ἡμέραν καί ἀπό (202) ἡμέρας πάλιν νύκτα γινομένην ὁρῶμεν, οὕτω πιστεύειν χρεών καί πεπεῖσθαι ὅτι οἱ ἐν σκότει τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑπάρχοντες καί ἐν τούτῳ ἀπό γεννήσεως διατελοῦντες δυνάμεθα διά πίστεως καί τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐργασίας εἰς ἡμέραν θείαν καί φωτισμόν πνευματικόν ἀναχθῆναι, καθά ῥᾳθυμίᾳ πάλιν καί καταφρονήσει καί ἀμελείᾳ τοῖς προτέροις κακοῖς περιπίπτομεν καί ὑπό τήν νύκτα τῆς ἁμαρτίας γινόμεθα. ∆εῖ οὖν ἡμᾶς ἐν τούτῳ τόν ὑπηρέτην ἡμῶν μιμεῖσθαι, εἰ μή τινα ἄλλον, καί θεράποντα ἥλιον. Καθάπερ γάρ ἐκεῖνος οὐδέποτε παύεται τοῦ ἀνατέλλειν καί ἐπιλάμπειν, ἀλλά τό τοῦ ∆εσπότου ἀενάως ἐκπληροῖ πρόσταγμα, οὕτω καί ἡμεῖς μή θελήσωμεν διά ἀμελείας ἐν τῷ σκότει καθῆσθαι τῶν ἡδονῶν καί παθῶν· τό πρόσταγμα δέ μᾶλλον τοῦ εἰπόντος· "Μετανοεῖτε· ἤγγικε γάρ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν" φυλάσσοντες, διά τῆς καθημερινῆς καί ἀδιαλείπτου μετανοίας καί τῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς καί δι᾿ αὐτῆς προχεομένων δακρύων καί πάσης ἄλλης ἀγαθοεργίας ἐκκαθαιρόμενοι, πρός τό ἀνέσπερον φῶς ὡς υἱοί φωτός ἐπανέρχεσθαι σπεύσωμεν. Οὕτω γάρ καί αὐτοί πάλιν ἡμεῖς ἡμέρα ἄϋλος καί γῆ καινή καί καινοί οὐρανοί, τόν τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιον λάμποντα ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἔχοντες, διά τοῦ ὑποδείγματος τοῖς πλησίον ἡμῶν χρηματίσομεν, τά τοῦ θεοῦ δηλονότι προστάγματα καί τήν δόξαν αὐτοῦ οὐ λόγοις κενοῖς καί ματαίοις, ἀλλ᾿ ἔργοις αὐτοῖς διηγούμενοι, ἔμπρακτοι διδάσκαλοι ἐν παντί καί ἐν πᾶσι γινόμενοι τοῖς ἀμελεστέροις τῶν ἀδελφῶν καί ἀναπολογήτους αὐτούς ἐργαζόμενοι.

Μή δή οὖν εἰς ῥᾳθυμίαν ἐνάγωμεν τούς πλησίον ἐν τῷ λέγειν· "Πῶς ἄρα τοῦτο ἤ πῶς ἐκεῖνο δυνατόν παρά ἀνθρώπων κατορθωθῆναι;", κἀκ τούτου ὀκνηροτέρους ποιῶμεν αὐτούς εἰς τήν ἐργασίαν τῶν ἐντολῶν. Ὅτι μέν γάρ τά πολλά τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀδύνατα, σύμφημι κἀγώ, (303) ἐν τοῖς κατ᾿ ἐμέ ῥᾳθύμοις καί καταφρονῆσαι τοῦ κόσμου καί σκύβαλα τά ἐν αὐτῷ πάντα ἡγήσασθαι μή προαιρουμένοις, τοῖς τῇ ματαίᾳ δόξῃ προσκειμένοις καί πλούτου ὀρεγομένοις καί ἐπαίνοις καί τιμαῖς ἐνηδομένοις ταῖς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων, τοῖς οἰήσει μετά τούτων καί τύφῳ ἀθλίως κεκρατημένοις. Παρήσω γάρ, τό γε νῦν ἔχον, ἐθελουσίως τούς ἐγκαλινδουμένους χοίρων δίκην εἰς τά βορβορώδη τῶν κακῶν τῆς ἁμαρτίας πράγματα, οἵ τήν οἰκίαν τῆς ψυχῆς κενήν περιφέροντες τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος ἐν τοῖς πιστοῖς καί οὕτω καθ᾿ ἑκάστην βοῶντος· "Ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ θλῖψιν ἕξετε· ἀλλά θαρσεῖτε, ἐγώ νενίκηκα τόν κόσμον", τῷ ἐναντίῳ συντάττονται. Ἐν ἐκείνοις γάρ τοῖς διά πίστεως καί τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀπαρνήσεως τῷ Χριστῷ καί Θεῷ πίστει καί ἀγάπῃ καί ταπεινώσει ἀκολουθήσασι καί αὐτόν σύν Πατρί καί Πνεύματι ἐν ἑαυτοῖς κτησαμένοις πάντα