112

he will let it out to other tenants. And before 60.528 this he said, that Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham; but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out. But he does not stop here, but adds something greater than this. What is that? That we are heirs of God; for which reason he added: Heirs of God. And what is more, not simply heirs, but also joint-heirs with Christ. Do you see how he strives to bring us near to the Master? For since not all children are heirs, he shows that we are both children and heirs. And since not all heirs are heirs of great things, he shows that we have this too, being heirs of God. Again, since it is possible to be an heir of God, but not in every case a joint-heir with the Only-Begotten, he shows that we have this too. And consider his wisdom; for after contracting the sorrowful things, when he was saying what those who live according to the flesh would suffer, for instance, that they are about to die, when he touched upon the better things, he brings his discourse into a wide space, expanding it by the recompense of rewards, and showing the gifts to be various and great. For if even to be a child was an ineffable grace, consider how great a thing it is to be an heir as well. And if this is great, much more so is being a joint-heir. Then, showing that the gift is not of grace alone, and making what he has said at the same time worthy of belief, he added: If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For if we have shared with him in the sorrows, he says, much more will this be so in the good things. For He who bestowed so many good things on those who had accomplished nothing, when He sees them having also labored and suffered so much, how will He not reward them all the more? 4. Having shown, then, that the matter is a recompense, so that what is said may be worthy of belief, and no one may doubt, he shows again that it also has the power of grace; on the one hand, so that what is said may be believed even by the doubters, and that those who receive may not be ashamed as being always saved by a gift; on the other, so that you may learn that God overcomes the toils with His recompenses. And yet, he made the one point clear by saying, If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together; and the other, by adding and subjoining, that The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For in the former passages he requires the correction of morals from the spiritual man, in those where he said: You are not debtors to live after the flesh; for instance, that such a one should overcome desire, anger, love of money, vainglory, envy; but here, since he has reminded him of all the gift that was given and that which is to come, and has raised and exalted him with hopes, and has set him near to Christ, and has declared him a joint-heir of the Only-Begotten, he confidently leads him forth from then on even to dangers. For it is not the same thing to overcome the passions within us, and to endure those temptations, the scourgings, the famine, the plunderings, the bonds, the chains, the transportations; for these things require a much nobler and more vigorous soul. And see how he at once puts down and raises up the spirit of the combatants. For when he shows the prizes to be greater than the toils, he both exhorts more greatly, and does not allow them to be high-minded, as being overcome by the recompense of the crowns. And elsewhere 60.529 he says: For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. For his discourse was addressed to more philosophic men; but here he does not allow them to be light, but consoles them with the recompense of the things to come, saying: For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy. And he did not say, to be compared with the rest to come, but what was much greater, with the glory to come. For where there is rest, there is not in every case also glory; but where there is glory, there is in every case also rest. Then, since he called it 'to come,' he shows that it already is. For he did not say, 'with the glory which is to be,' but, 'with the glory which shall be revealed,' as though it exists even now, but is hidden; which he also said more clearly elsewhere, that Our life is hid with Christ in God.

112

ἐκδώσεται γεωργοῖς ἑτέροις. Καὶ πρὸ 60.528 τούτου δὲ ἔλεγεν, ὅτι Πολλοὶ ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν καὶ δυσμῶν ἥξουσι, καὶ ἀνακλιθήσονται μετὰ Ἀβραάμ· οἱ δὲ υἱοὶ τῆς βασιλείας ἔξω βληθήσονται. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἐνταῦθα ἵσταται, ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτου μεῖζον τίθησι. Ποῖον δὴ τοῦτο; Ὅτι Θεοῦ κληρονόμοι· διὸ καὶ ἐπήγαγε· Κληρονόμοι μὲν Θεοῦ. Καὶ τὸ ἔτι πλέον, ὅτι οὐχ ἁπλῶς κληρονόμοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ συγκληρονόμοι Χριστοῦ. Ὁρᾷς πῶς φιλονεικεῖ ἐγγὺς ἡμᾶς ἀγαγεῖν τοῦ ∆εσπότου; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐ πάντα τὰ τέκνα κληρονόμοι, δείκνυσιν ὅτι ἡμεῖς καὶ τέκνα καὶ κληρονόμοι. Ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐ πάντες κληρονόμοι μεγάλων εἰσὶ κληρονόμοι πραγμάτων, δείκνυσιν ὅτι καὶ τοῦτο ἔχομεν, κληρονόμοι ὄντες Θεοῦ. Πάλιν ἐπειδὴ κληρονόμον μὲν εἶναι συμβαίνει Θεοῦ, οὐ πάντως δὲ τῷ Μονογενεῖ συγκληρονόμον, δείκνυσιν ἡμᾶς καὶ τοῦτο ἔχοντας. Καὶ σκόπει σοφίαν· τὰ γὰρ λυπηρὰ συστείλας, ἡνίκα ἔλεγε, τί πείσονται οἱ κατὰ σάρκα ζῶντες, οἷον, ὅτι μέλλουσιν ἀποθνήσκειν, ἐπειδὴ τῶν χρηστοτέρων ἥψατο, εἰς εὐρυχωρίαν πολλὴν ἐξάγει τὸν λόγον, ἐμπλατύνων αὐτὸν τῇ τῶν μισθῶν ἀνταποδόσει, καὶ ποικίλας καὶ μεγάλας δεικνὺς τὰς δωρεάς. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὸ τέκνον εἶναι, ἄφατος ἦν ἡ χάρις, ἐννόησον ἡλίκον τὸ, καὶ κληρονόμον. Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο μέγα, πολλῷ μᾶλλον καὶ τὸ, συγκληρονόμον. Εἶτα δεικνὺς, ὅτι οὐ χάριτος μόνον ἐστὶν ἡ δωρεὰ, καὶ ποιῶν ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀξιόπιστα τὰ εἰρημένα, ἐπήγαγεν· Εἴπερ συμπάσχομεν, ἵνα καὶ συνδοξασθῶμεν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς λυπηροῖς, φησὶν, ἐκοινωνήσαμεν αὐτῷ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς χρηστοῖς τοῦτο ἔσται. Ὁ γὰρ τοὺς οὐδὲν κατωρθωκότας τοσούτοις δωρησάμενος ἀγαθοῖς, ὅταν ἴδῃ καὶ πονήσαντας, καὶ τοσαῦτα παθόντας, πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλον ἀμείψεται; δʹ. ∆είξας τοίνυν ἀντίδοσιν οὖσαν τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἵνα ἀξιόπιστον ᾖ τὸ λεγόμενον, καὶ μηδεὶς ἀμφιβάλλῃ, δείκνυσι πάλιν καὶ χάριτος δύναμιν ἔχον· τὸ μὲν, ἵνα καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἀμφιβάλλουσι πιστεύηται τὰ λεγόμενα, καὶ οἱ λαμβάνοντες μὴ αἰσχύνωνται ὡς ἀεὶ δωρεᾷ σωζόμενοι· τὸ δὲ, ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι νικᾷ ταῖς ἀντιδόσεσι τοὺς πόνους ὁ Θεός. Καίτοι τὸ μὲν ἐδήλωσεν εἰπὼν, Εἴπερ συμπάσχομεν, ἵνα καὶ συνδοξασθῶμεν· τοῦτο δὲ, ἐπαγαγὼν καὶ προσθεὶς, ὅτι Οὐκ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι εἰς ἡμᾶς. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς προτέροις τὴν τῶν ἠθῶν διόρθωσιν ἀπαιτεῖ τὸν πνευματικὸν, ἐν οἷς ἔλεγεν· Οὐκ ὀφείλετε κατὰ σάρκα ζῇν· οἷον, ἵνα ἐπιθυμίας, ἵνα ὀργῆς, ἵνα χρημάτων, ἵνα κενοδοξίας, ἵνα βασκανίας περιγίνηται ὁ τοιοῦτος· ἐνταῦθα δὲ, ἐπειδὴ τῆς δωρεᾶς αὐτὸν ἀνέμνησεν ἁπάσης τῆς δοθείσης, τῆς μελλούσης, καὶ ἐπῆρε καὶ ὕψωσε ταῖς ἐλπίσι, καὶ ἐγγὺς ἔστησε τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ συγκληρονόμον ἀπέφηνε τοῦ Μονογενοῦς, θαῤῥῶν αὐτὸν ἐξάγει λοιπὸν καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς κινδύνους. Οὐδὲ γάρ ἐστιν ἴσον τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν παθῶν περιγενέσθαι, καὶ τοὺς πειρασμοὺς ἐκείνους ὑπενεγκεῖν, τὰς μάστιγας, τὸν λιμὸν, τὰς λεηλασίας, τὰ δεσμὰ, τὰς ἁλύσεις, τὰς ἀπαγωγάς· πολὺ γὰρ ταῦτα δεῖται γενναιοτέρας ψυχῆς καὶ νεανικωτέρας. Καὶ ὅρα πῶς ὁμοῦ καταστέλλει καὶ ἐπαίρει τὸ φρόνημα τῶν ἀγωνιζομένων. Ὅταν γὰρ δείξῃ μείζονα τὰ ἔπαθλα τῶν πόνων, καὶ προτρέπει μειζόνως, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίησι μέγα φρονεῖν, ἅτε νικωμένους τῇ τῶν στεφάνων ἀντιδόσει. Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ μέν 60.529 φησι· Τὸ γὰρ παραυτίκα ἐλαφρὸν τῆς θλίψεως καθ' ὑπερβολὴν εἰς ὑπερβολὴν αἰώνιον βάρος δόξης κατεργάζεται. Πρὸς γὰρ φιλοσοφωτέρους ἦν ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ· ἐνταῦθα δὲ κοῦφα μὲν αὐτὰ οὐκ ἀφίησιν εἶναι, παραμυθεῖται δὲ αὐτὰ τῇ τῶν μελλόντων ἀντιδόσει, λέγων· Λογίζομαι γὰρ, ὅτι οὐκ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ. Καὶ οὐκ εἶπε, Πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν ἄνεσιν, ἀλλ' ὃ πολλῷ μεῖζον ἦν, Πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν. Ὅπου μὲν γὰρ ἄνεσις, οὐ πάντως καὶ δόξα· ὅπου δὲ δόξα, πάντως καὶ ἄνεσις. Εἶτα, ἐπειδὴ μέλλουσαν αὐτὴν εἶπε, δείκνυσιν αὐτὴν ἤδη οὖσαν. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπε, Πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν ἔσεσθαι, ἀλλὰ, Πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι, ὡς καὶ νῦν οὖσαν μὲν, κρυπτομένην δέ· ὅπερ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ σαφέστερον ἔλεγεν, ὅτι Ἡ ζωὴ ἡμῶν κέκρυπται σὺν τῷ Χριστῷ ἐν τῷ Θεῷ.