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the flame of love. The prophecy of his end, therefore, both encouraged Peter and taught the others that the denial was of economy, but not of his will. And this our Savior and Lord himself hinted at, saying to him: "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." For just as, he says, I support you when you are shaken, so you too be a support to your shaken brothers, and share the help you enjoy; and do not push those who slip, but raise those who are in danger. For this reason I allow you to stumble, but I do not permit you to fall, contriving through you a standing for those who are shaken. 31.13 Thus this great pillar supported the shaken world, and did not allow it to fall completely, but raised it up and made it firm, and having been commanded to shepherd the divine flock, he endured being treated insolently for them, and took pleasure in being tormented. And going out from the wicked council with his companion he rejoiced, "that he was counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of the Lord." And being cast into prison, he was glad and rejoiced. And when he was condemned by Nero to be slaughtered on a cross for the sake of the Crucified One, he begged the executioners not to be nailed to the scaffold in a manner similar to the Lord, but to be crucified in the opposite way to him, fearing, as was likely, that the identity of the passion might bring him an equal honor from the foolish. For this reason he pleaded for his hands to be nailed below, and his feet above. For he had learned to choose the last place, not only in honor, but also in dishonor. And if it were possible to endure this death ten and fifty times, he would have accepted it with all pleasure, being inflamed with divine longing. This also the divine Paul cries out, now saying: "I die daily, by your boasting which I have in Christ Jesus," and now: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." 31.14 Therefore, he who has received divine love despises all earthly things together, and tramples on all the pleasures of the body; he scorns wealth and glory and the honor from men; he considers the royal purple to differ in nothing from spiderwebs; he likens precious stones to the pebbles by the banks; he does not consider the health of the body blessed, nor does he call sickness a misfortune, nor does he address poverty as adversity, nor does he define happiness by wealth and luxury; but they rightly think that each of these things is always like river streams, which flow past the trees planted by the banks, and stop for none of them. For likewise beauty and poverty and wealth, and health and sickness, honor and dishonor, and all the other things that run past the nature of men, are not seen always remaining with the same people, but changing their possessors, and continually passing from some to others. For many fall from abundance into extreme poverty; and many rise from being poor into the catalogue of the rich. And sickness, and health, travel through all bodies, so to speak, both of the hungry and of the luxurious. 31.15 But virtue and philosophy are a lasting good; for it conquers the hands of a robber, and the tongue of a slanderer, and the storms of war-arrows and spears; it does not become the fuel of a fever, nor a casualty of a wave, nor a loss of a shipwreck. Time does not take away its power, but increases its power. And the substance of this is the love for God. For it is impossible for one who has not become a fervent lover of God to achieve philosophy; rather, this very thing is called philosophy. For God both is and is called Wisdom. Concerning

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ἀγάπης τὴν φλόγα. Ἡ τοίνυν πρόρρησις τῆς τελευτῆς καὶ τὸν Πέτρον ἐψυχαγώγει, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐδίδασκεν ὡς οἰκονομίας ἦν, ἀλλ' οὐ γνώμης ἡ ἄρνησις. Καὶ τοῦτο αὐτὸς ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν ᾐνίξατο, πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰρηκώς· "Σίμων, Σίμων, ἐξῃτήσατο ὁ Σατανᾶς σινιᾶσαι ὑμᾶς ὡς τὸν σῖτον, κἀγὼ ἐδεήθην περὶ σοῦ, ἵνα μὴ ἐκλείπῃ ἡ πίστις σου· ἀλλὰ καὶ σύ ποτε ἐπιστρέψας, στήριξον τοὺς ἀδελφούς σου." Ὥσπερ γάρ, φησίν, ἐγὼ σαλευόμενον ὑπερείδω σε, οὕτως ἔρεισμα γενοῦ καὶ σὺ τοῖς δονουμένοις τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου, καὶ ἧς ἀπολαύεις ἐπικουρίας μετάδος· καὶ μὴ ὠθήσῃς τοὺς ὀλισθαίνοντας, ἀλλ' ἀνά στησον κινδυνεύοντας. Τούτου γάρ σε χάριν καὶ προσπταῖσαι συγχωρῶ, καὶ πεσεῖν οὐκ ἐῶ, στάσιν τοῖς σαλευομένοις διὰ σοῦ μηχανώμενος. 31.13 Οὕτω τὴν οἰκουμένην σαλευομένην ὁ μέγας οὗτος στῦλος ὑπήρεισε, καὶ καταπεσεῖν οὐκ εἴασε παντελῶς, ἀλλ' ἀνώρθωσε, καὶ ἑδραίαν ἀπέφηνε, καὶ ποιμᾶναι τὰ θεῖα πρόβατα κελευσθεὶς καὶ παροινούμενος ὑπὲρ τούτων ἠνείχετο, καὶ αἰκιζόμενος ἥδετο. Καὶ ἐξιὼν ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ συνεδρίου σὺν τῷ ὁμόζυγι ἔχαιρεν, "ὅτι κατηξιώθη ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ δεσπότου ἀτιμασθῆναι". Καὶ εἰς δεσμω τήρια δὲ βαλλόμενος, ἐγάνυτο καὶ εὐφραίνετο. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ ὑπὸ Νέρωνος τὴν διὰ σταυροῦ ὑπὲρ τοῦ σταυρωμένου κατεδικάσθη σφαγήν, παρεκάλει τοὺς δημίους μὴ τῷ δεσπότῃ παραπλησίως τῷ ἰκρίῳ προσηλωθῆναι, ἀλλ' ἔμπα λιν ἢ ἐκεῖνος ἀνασκολοπισθῆναι, δείσας, ὡς εἰκός, μὴ ἡ τοῦ πάθους ταὐτότης ἴσον αὐτῷ παρὰ τῶν ἀνοήτων προσε νέγκῃ τὸ γέρας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο κάτω προσηλωθῆναι τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ ἄνω τοὺς πόδας ἱκέτευε. Τὸ γὰρ ἔσχατον αἱρεῖσθαι, οὐκ ἐν τῇ τιμῇ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀτιμίᾳ μεμάθηκεν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ δεκάκις καὶ πεντηκοντάκις τοῦτον ὑπομεῖναι τὸν θάνατον οἷόν τε ἦν, ἐδέξατο ἂν μετὰ πάσης ἡδονῆς, τῷ θείῳ πυρπολούμενος πόθῳ. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὁ θεῖος Παῦλος βοᾷ, νῦν μὲν λέγων· "Καθ' ἡμέραν ἀποθνῄσκω, νὴ τὴν ὑμετέραν καύχησιν, ἣν ἔχω ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ", νῦν δέ· "Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι. Ζῶ δὲ οὐκ ἔτι ἐγώ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός." 31.14 Οὐκοῦν ὁ τὸν ἔρωτα τὸν θεῖον δεξάμενος πάντων μὲν ὁμοῦ τῶν γηΐνων καταφρονεῖ, πατεῖ δὲ ἁπάσας τὰς τοῦ σώματος ἡδονάς· ὑπερορᾷ πλούτου καὶ δόξης καὶ τῆς παρὰ ἀνθρώπων τιμῆς· ἀραχνίων οὐδὲν διαφέρειν ὑπολαμ βάνει τὴν βασιλικὴν ἁλουργίδα· τοὺς πολυτελεῖς τῶν λίθων ταῖς παρὰ τὰς ὄχθας ἀπεικάζει ψηφίσιν· οὐ μακαριστὴν ἡγεῖται τὴν ὑγίειαν τοῦ σώματος, οὐδὲ συμφορὰν τὴν νόσον ἀποκαλεῖ, οὐδὲ δυσπραξίαν τὴν πενίαν προσαγορεύει, οὐδὲ πλούτῳ καὶ τρυφῇ τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν ὁρίζεται· ἀλλὰ ποταμίοις ῥεύμασι, τὰ παραπεφυτευμένα ταῖς ὄχθαις παραρ ρέουσι δένδρα, καὶ πρὸς οὐδένα τούτων ἱσταμένοις, ἀεὶ ἐοικέναι τούτων ἕκαστον ἡγοῦνται καλῶς. Ὁμοίως γὰρ κάλλος καὶ πενία καὶ πλοῦτος, καὶ ὑγίεια καὶ νόσος, τιμή τε καὶ ἀτιμία, καὶ τἄλλα, ὅσα τῶν ἀνθρώπων παρατρέχει τὴν φύσιν, οὐ παρὰ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἀεὶ μένοντα θεωρεῖται, ἀλλὰ τοὺς κεκτημένους ἀμείβοντα, καὶ ἐξ ἄλλων εἰς ἄλλους διηνεκῶς μεταβαίνοντα. Πολλοὶ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ εὐπορίας μετα πίπτουσιν εἰς πενίαν ἐσχάτην· πολλοὶ δὲ ἐκ πενήτων εἰς τὸν τῶν πλουσίων κατάλογον ἀναβαίνουσι. Καὶ νόσος δέ, καὶ ὑγίεια διὰ πάντων, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, σωμάτων, καὶ πεινώντων καὶ τρυφώντων, ὁδεύει. 31.15 Ἀρετὴ δὲ καὶ φιλοσοφία, μόνιμον ἀγαθόν· νικᾷ γὰρ καὶ λῃστοῦ χεῖρας, καὶ συκοφάντου γλῶτταν, καὶ πολεμικῶν βελῶν καὶ δορατῶν νιφάδας· οὐ γίνεται πυρετοῦ παρανάλωμα, οὐδὲ κλύδωνος πάρεργον, οὐδὲ ναυαγίου ζημία. Ταύτης ὁ χρόνος οὐκ ἀφαιρεῖται τὴν δύναμιν, ἀλλ' αὔξει τὴν δύναμιν. Ὕλη δὲ ταύτης ἡ περὶ τὸν θεὸν ἀγάπη. Ἀδύνατον γὰρ κατορθῶσαι φιλοσοφίαν τὸν μὴ θερμὸν τοῦ θεοῦ γενόμενον ἐραστήν· μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο φιλοσοφία καλεῖται. Σοφία γὰρ ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἔστι καὶ καλεῖται. Περὶ