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to the present and passing things, both the things to come and the things that remain, and in addition to these, the depth of Gehenna, and the height of the kingdom. But having examined all these things, and finding that all things give way to love, both the painful and the pleasant, and that the deprivation of love is more bitter than the punishment in Gehenna, and having shown how, if it were possible, he would have chosen the threatened punishment with the divine love, rather than without it the promised kingdom of heaven, being drunk with longing he seeks things that do not exist, and strives to compare these things to the divine love. "For neither height," he says, "nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 31.8 For not only, he says, do I prefer the love for the savior and creator above all things together, visible and invisible, but even if some other creation, greater and more beautiful than this, should appear, it will not persuade me to exchange this love; but even if someone should offer pleasant things without it, I will not accept them; and even if he should bring on gloomy things because of it, they will seem to me desirable, and exceedingly lovely; and the famine on account of it is more pleasant to me than any luxury, and persecution sweeter than peace, and nakedness more graceful than purple and gold-embroidered robes, and danger sweeter than any security, and violent slaughter more preferable than any life. For the cause of the sufferings becomes a delight to me. For because of the lover who is also the beloved, I accept these storms. "For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God," who, being rich, for our sakes became poor, so that by his poverty we might become rich. And: "He redeemed us from the curse of the law, by becoming a curse for us." And: "He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." And: "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Considering these and similar things, I would not accept the kingdom of heaven without the love for these things; I would not flee the punishment in Gehenna, if it were conceivable for one possessing this love to endure punishment. He teaches this clearly elsewhere also: "For the love of God constrains us, having judged this, that one died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised." Therefore, those who do not live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised, gladly endure to do and to suffer all things for his sake. 31.9 And the sufferings that are by nature great and hard, comparing them with love, he calls small and easy to bear. "For the momentary lightness of our affliction," he says, "produces for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure." Then he also teaches how one ought to compare: "While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." For it is fitting, he says, to set against present things the things to come, and against temporary things the eternal things, and against affliction, glory; for the one has what is momentary, but the other what is eternal; for this reason the one is light and easy to bear, while the other is both precious and weighty. For this reason, indeed, he has also added "exceedingly" to both, both to the lightness of the affliction and to the weight of the glory. For these things, he says, are exceedingly small, and light, and temporary; and those likewise are exceedingly glorious, and precious, and weighty, and eternal. And elsewhere he likewise cries out: "I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 31.10 By this longing the great Peter too was wounded, and though he learned beforehand of his coming denial, he did not consent to hide; but he thought it better to deny while following, than to confess while fleeing. For that his following was the offspring of love and not of rashness, the

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τοῖς παροῦσι καὶ παριοῦσι τὰ μέλλοντά τε καὶ τὰ μένοντα, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις, τῆς γεέννης τὸ βάθος, καὶ τῆς βασιλείας τὸ ὕψος. Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα παρεξετάσας, καὶ εὑρὼν ἅπαντα τῷ φίλτρῳ παραχω ροῦντα, καὶ τὰ λυπηρὰ καὶ τὰ θυμήρη, καὶ τῆς ἀγάπης τὴν στέρησιν τῆς ἐν γεέννῃ κολάσεως πικροτέραν, καὶ δείξας ὡς, εἴπερ οἷόν τε ἦν, εἵλετο ἂν μετὰ τῆς θείας ἀγάπης τὴν ἠπειλημένην κόλασιν, ἢ δίχα ταύτης τὴν ἐπηγγελμένην τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείαν, μεθύων τῷ πόθῳ τὰ μὴ ὑφεστῶτα ζητεῖ, καὶ ταῦτα συγκρῖναι τῷ θείῳ φίλτρῳ φιλονεικεῖ. "Οὔτε ὕψωμα γάρ, φησίν, οὔτε βάθος, οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ θεοῦ, τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν." 31.8 Οὐ γὰρ μόνον, φησί, πάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν ὁρωμένων καὶ ἀοράτων τὸ περὶ τὸν σωτῆρα καὶ ποιητὴν προτίθημι φίλτρον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴ τις ἑτέρα κτίσις ταύτης καὶ μείζων καὶ καλλίων ἀναφανείη, οὐ πείσει με τὴν ἀγάπην ἀλλάξα σθαι· ἀλλὰ κἂν τὰ θυμήρη τις παράσχῃ δίχα ταύτης, οὐ δέξομαι· κἂν ἐπαγάγῃ διὰ ταύτην τὰ σκυθρωπά, ἐπέρα στά μοι φανεῖται, καὶ λίαν ἐράσμια· καὶ ὁ διὰ ταύτην λιμὸς πάσης μοι τρυφῆς θυμηρέστερος, καὶ εἰρήνης ἡδίων ὁ διωγμός, καὶ ἡ γυμνότης ἁλουργίδος καὶ χρυσοπάστων ἱματίων χαριεστέρα, καὶ ὁ κίνδυνος πάσης ἀδείας γλυκύ τερος, καὶ ἡ βιαία σφαγὴ πάσης αἱρετωτέρα ζωῆς. Ἡ γὰρ αἰτία τῶν παθῶν, ψυχαγωγία μοι γίνεται. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τὸν ἐραστὴν ὁμοῦ καὶ ἐρώμενον δέχομαι τὰς τούτων νιφάδας. "Τὸν γὰρ μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν δι' ἡμᾶς ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς γενώμεθα δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ", ὃς πλούσιος ὢν δι' ἡμᾶς ἐπτώχευσεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς τῇ ἐκείνου πτωχείᾳ πλουτήσωμεν. Καί· "Ἐξηγόρασεν ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου, γενόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα." Καί· "Ἐτα πείνωσεν ἑαυτόν, ὑπήκοος γενόμενος μέχρι θανάτου, θανάτου δὲ σταυροῦ." Καί· "Ἔτι ἁμαρτωλῶν ἡμῶν ὄντων, Χριστὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀπέθανεν." Ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα λογιζόμενος, οὐκ ἂν δεξαίμην τῶν οὐρανῶν τὴν βασιλείαν, δίχα τῆς περὶ τούτων ἀγάπης· οὐκ ἂν φύγοιμι τὴν ἐν γεέννῃ τιμωρίαν, εἴπερ εἰκὸς ἦν τὸν ταύτην ἔχοντα κόλασιν ὑπομένειν. Τοῦτο καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ διδάσκει σαφῶς· "Ἡ γὰρ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ συνέχει ἡμᾶς, κρίναντας τοῦτο ὅτι εἷς ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀπέθανεν, ἵνα οἱ ζῶντες μηκέτι ἑαυτοῖς ζῶσιν, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀποθανόντι καὶ ἀναστάντι." Οἱ τοίνυν μὴ ἑαυτοῖς ζῶντες, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀποθα νόντι καὶ ἀναστάντι, πάντα ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ καὶ δρᾶσαι καὶ παθεῖν ἀσμένως ἀνέχονται. 31.9 Καὶ τὰ τῇ φύσει δὲ μέγαλα καὶ χαλεπὰ παθήματα, τῷ φίλτρῳ συγκρίνων, μικρὰ λέγει καὶ εὔφορα. "Τὸ γὰρ παραυτίκα, φησίν, ἐλαφρὸν τῆς θλίψεως ἡμῶν, καθ' ὑπερ βολὴν εἰς ὑπερβολὴν αἰώνιον βάρος δόξης κατεργάζεται ἡμῖν." Εἶτα καὶ πῶς δεῖ συγκρίνειν διδάσκει· "Μὴ σκοπούντων ἡμῶν τὰ βλεπόμενα, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα· τὰ γὰρ βλεπόμενα πρόσκαιρα· τὰ δὲ μὴ βλεπόμενα αἰώνια." Προσήκει γάρ, φησί, παρατιθέναι τοῖς μὲν παροῦσι τὰ μέλλοντα, τοῖς δὲ προσκαίροις τὰ αἰώνια, τῇ δὲ θλίψει τὴν δόξαν· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἔχει τὸ παραυτίκα, ἡ δὲ τὸ αἰώνιον· τούτου χάριν αὕτη μὲν κούφη καὶ εὔφορος, ἐκείνη δὲ πολυ τελής τε καὶ βαρύτιμος. Ταύτῃ τοι καὶ τὸ καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἀμφοτέροις προστέθεικε, καὶ τῷ ἐλαφρῷ τῆς θλίψεως, καὶ τῷ βάρει τῆς δόξης. Καὶ ταῦτα γάρ, φησίν, ὑπερβαλ λόντως καὶ σμικρά, καὶ κοῦφα, καὶ πρόσκαιρα· κἀκεῖνα ὡσαύτως μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς ἔνδοξα, καὶ πολυτελῆ, καὶ βαρύ τιμα, καὶ αἰώνια. Καὶ ἑτέρωθι ὁμοίως βοᾷ· "Εὐδοκῶ ἐν ἀσθενείαις, ἐν ὕβρεσιν, ἐν ἀνάγκαις, ἐν διωγμοῖς, ἐν ἀκαταστασίαις ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ. Ὅταν γὰρ ἀσθενῶ, τότε δυνατός εἰμι." 31.10 Τούτῳ καὶ ὁ μέγας Πέτρος τετρωμένος τῷ πόθῳ, οὐδὲ προμαθὼν τὴν ἐσομένην ἄρνησιν λαθεῖν κατεδέξατο· ἀλλ' ἄμεινον ὑπέλαβεν ἑπόμενος ἀρνηθῆναι, ἢ φεύγων ὁμολογῆσαι. Ὅτι γὰρ ἔρωτος ἦν καὶ οὐ θρασύτητος ἡ ἀκολούθησις ἔκγονος, τὰ