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promised to the saints, this those who wait for the Lord shall inherit; for with the other enumerated good things, the inheritance itself will also be given to them. But if Jerusalem and Zion, the heavenly mountain of God, exist in the heavens, it follows that we should also understand the land promised to the worthy as heavenly. And yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be. He interprets what was said above, on the one hand, 'For they shall soon be withered like grass, and shall fall away quickly like green herbs,' through the words, 'Yet a little while, and the sinner shall not be; and you will seek his place and will not find it;' and on the other hand, 'Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the requests of your heart,' he renders more clearly through the words, 'But the meek shall inherit the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.' For how one will delight in the Lord he shows, by saying that with him is an abundance of peace; of which abundance of peace those who have delighted in the Lord will enjoy. Through these words, the discourse clearly teaches of another, good land to be given to the meek, and it refers delight and abundance of peace to the life to come. For he was not ignorant that the righteous, like the sinners, will die in the present life, so that it can also be said of them: 'Yet a little while, and the righteous shall not be, and you will seek his place, and will not find it'; for they too die just as sinners do. But he would not have said this concerning the present earth: 'The meek shall inherit the land,' seeing clearly that Moses, the meekest of all men, long ago departed from men and was released from the present earth. The sinner will watch the righteous man, and will gnash his teeth at him. Both the uprisings of the impious against the righteous, and the ends of both orders. For not being content, he says, with his own offenses, the sinner cannot bear to see the righteous man being godly; for he considers that man's life a reproof of his own wickedness; therefore he says: 'He is grievous to us even to behold'; for which reason he watches for a way to cast him down. But the righteous man does not pretend, nor does he know the things secretly contrived against him; but the all-seeing Lord, foreseeing the fall of the one who thinks these things, laughs at his reasonings. And for the time being he does nothing more than laugh at him for vainly reasoning such things; but when he proceeds to deeds, having sharpened his swords so as to plot death against the one who has taken up pov 23.329 erty and need for God's sake, and is perfecting the highest philosophy, then the Lord, who long ago laughed at them, turns their own sword against their own heart, and shatters the bows of the impious against the righteous man. For he will pursue them; no longer laughing at what they devise, but using the fitting justice against them. And that these are not mere words, but true deeds testified by their very effect, the experience of these deeds has confirmed even for us who are now recounting them. For we have received with our own eyes how the sinners in the persecutions against us drew the sword against the righteous, and how they bent their bows to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay the upright in heart, and how they acted and cast down and killed by various manners of death the holy martyrs who were courageous for God. And just as we have recorded these things, so also we have beheld the justice of God that pursued them, being of such a kind that he who truly said their sword had entered their own heart and their bows had been shattered did not err. Better is a little that the righteous has. It has not only been foretold, but has been fulfilled through deeds, and at other times as well. The righteous man, being poor, is content with a little, having been taught to say in prayer: 'Give us this day our daily bread;' but the sinner, swimming in wealth, thinks it the enjoyment of some good thing.

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τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐπηγγελμένη, ταύτην κληρονομήσουσιν οἱ ὑπομένοντες τὸν Κύριον· μετὰ γὰρ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατηριθμημένων ἀγαθῶν, καὶ αὐτὸς αὐτοῖς δοθήσεται ὁ κλῆρος. Εἰ δ' ἔστιν ἐν οὐρανοῖς Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ Σιὼν ὄρος τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸ ἐπουράνιον, ἀκόλουθόν ἐστι καὶ γῆν ἐπουράνιον νοεῖν τὴν ἐπηγγελμένην τοῖς ἀξίοις. Καὶ ἔτι ὀλίγον, καὶ οὐ μὴ ὑπάρξῃ ἁμαρτωλός. ∆ιερμηνεύει τὰ ἀνωτέρω λελεγμένα, τὸ μὲν, Ὅτι ὡσεὶ χόρτος ταχὺ ἀποξηρανθήσονται, καὶ ὡσεὶ λάχανα χλόης ταχὺ ἀποπεσοῦνται, διὰ τοῦ, Ἔτι ὀλίγον, καὶ οὐ μὴ ὑπάρξῃ ὁ ἁμαρτωλός· καὶ ζητήσεις τὸν τόπον αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐ μὴ εὕρῃς· τὸ δὲ, Κατατρύφησον τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ δώσει σοι τὰ αἰτήματα τῆς καρδίας σου, σαφέστερον ἀποδίδωσι διὰ τοῦ, Οἱ δὲ πραεῖς κληρονομήσουσι τὴν γῆν, καὶ κατατρυφήσουσιν ἐπὶ πλήθει εἰρήνης. Πῶς γάρ τις κατατρυφήσει τοῦ Κυρίου παρίστησι, πλῆθος εἰρήνης παρ' αὐτῷ εἶναι λέγων· οὗ πλήθους εἰρήνης ἀπολαύσουσιν οἱ τοῦ Κυρίου κατατρυφήσαντες. ∆ιὰ τούτων δὲ ὁ λόγος σαφῶς ἑτέραν τινὰ γῆν ἀγαθὴν τὴν τοῖς πραέσι δοθησομένην διδάσκει, καὶ τρυφὴν καὶ πλῆθος εἰρήνης εἰς μέλλουσαν ἀναπέμπει ζωήν. Οὐ γὰρ ἠγνόει, ὅτι ὁμοίως τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον καὶ οἱ δίκαιοι τελευτήσουσιν, ὡς δύνασθαι καὶ περὶ αὐτῶν λέγεσθαι τό· Ἔτι ὀλίγον, καὶ οὐ μὴ ὑπάρξῃ ὁ δίκαιος, καὶ ζητήσεις τὸν τόπον αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐ μὴ εὕρῃς· τελευτῶσι γὰρ ὁμοίως τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς καὶ αὐτοί. Οὐκ ἂν δὲ εἶπε περὶ τῆς παρούσης γῆς τόδε· Οἱ πραεῖς κληρονομήσουσι τὴν γῆν, σαφῶς ὁρῶν τῶν πάντων πραότατον Μωϋσέα, πάλαι ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γενόμενον καὶ τῆς παρούσης γῆς ἀπηλλαγμένον. Παρατηρήσεται ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς τὸν δίκαιον, καὶ βρύξει ἐπ' αὐτὸν τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτοῦ. Τῶν τε ἀσεβῶν τὰς κατὰ τῶν δικαίων ἐπαναστάσεις, καὶ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν ταγμάτων τὰ τέλη. Μὴ γὰρ ἀρκούμενος, φησὶ, τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ πλημμελήμασιν ὁ ἁμαρτωλὸς, οὐ φέρει βλέπων τὸν δίκαιον θεοσεβοῦντα· ἔλεγχον γὰρ τὸν ἐκείνου βίον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ μοχθηρίας ἡγεῖται· διὸ λέγει· Βαρὺς ἡμῖν ἐστι καὶ βλεπόμενος· ὅθεν ἐπιτηρεῖ ὅπως αὐτὸν καταβάλῃ. Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν δίκαιος οὐ προσποιεῖται, οὐδὲ γινώσκει τὰ λαθραίως κατ' αὐτοῦ μηχανώμενα· ὁ δὲ παντεπόπτης Κύριος, προορῶν τὴν τοῦ ταῦτα διανοουμένου πτῶσιν, τῶν λογισμῶν αὐτοῦ καταγελᾷ. Καὶ τέως μὲν πλέον οὐδὲν ἢ γελᾷ ἐπ' αὐτῷ μάτην τοιαῦτα λογιζομένῳ· ἐπειδὰν δ' ἐπὶ τὰ ἔργα χωρῇ, ἀκονήσας ἑαυτοῦ τὰ ξίφη ὡς μέχρι θανάτου ἐπιβουλεῦσαι τῷ τὴν διὰ Θεὸν πτω 23.329 χείαν καὶ πενίαν ἀνειληφότι, καὶ τὴν ἄκραν κατορθοῦντι φιλοσοφίαν, τὸ τηνικαῦτα στρέφει τὴν αὐτῶν ῥομφαίαν κατὰ τῆς αὐτῶν καρδίας ὁ πάλαι καταγελῶν αὐτῶν Κύριος, καὶ τὰ κατὰ τοῦ δικαίου τόξα τῶν ἀσεβῶν συντρίβει. Μετελεύσεται γὰρ αὐτούς· οὐδὲ ἔτι γελῶν ἐφ' οἷς διανοοῦνται, ἀλλὰ τῇ δίκῃ τῇ προσηκούσῃ κατ' αὐτῶν χρώμενος. Ταῦτα δὲ, ὅτι μὴ λόγοι τυγχάνουσιν, ἀλλ' ἔργα ἀληθῆ μαρτυρούμενα ὑπ' αὐτῆς ἐνεργείας, καὶ ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ταῦτα νυνὶ διεξιοῦσιν ἡ πεῖρα τῶν ἔργων ἐπιστώσατο. Ὀφθαλμοῖς γοῦν παρειλήφαμεν, ὡς οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ἐν τοῖς καθ' ἡμῶν διωγμοῖς ῥομφαίαν ἐσπάσαντο κατὰ τῶν δικαίων, καὶ ὡς ἐνέτειναν τὰ τόξα αὐτῶν τοῦ καταβαλεῖν πένητα καὶ πτωχὸν, καὶ τοῦ σφάξαι τοὺς εὐθεῖς τῇ καρδίᾳ, καὶ ὡς ἔπραξαν καὶ κατέβαλον καὶ ἀνεῖλον ποικίλοις τρόποις θανάτων τοὺς κατὰ Θεὸν ἀνδρισαμένους ἁγίους μάρτυρας. Ὥσπερ δὲ ταῦτα ἱστορησάμενοι, οὕτω καὶ τὴν μετελθοῦσαν αὐτοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ δίκην τεθεάμεθα, τοιαύτην γενομένην, ὡς μὴ ἁμαρτεῖν τὸν φήσαντα ἀληθῶς, τὴν ῥομφαίαν αὐτῶν εἰσεληλυθέναι εἰς τὴν καρδίαν αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ τόξα αὐτῶν συντετρῖφθαι. Κρεῖσσον ὀλίγον τῷ δικαίῳ. Οὐ προείρηται μόνον, ἀλλὰ δι' ἔργων ἀποπεπλήρωται, καὶ τὸν ἄλλον δὲ χρόνον. Ὁ μὲν δίκαιος πτωχεύων, ἀρκεῖται τῷ ὀλίγῳ, δεδιδαγμένος ἐν προσευχῇ λέγειν· Τὸν ἄρτον ἡμῶν τὸν ἐπιούσιον δὸς ἡμῖν σήμερον· ὁ δὲ ἁμαρτωλὸς, πλούτῳ περιῤῥεόμενος, ἀγαθοῦ τινος ἀπόλαυσιν νομίζει.