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they hope for them from the king, while others also receive them by putting forward their own rulers as mediators. And there are those who through their own courage and virtue become famous and are accepted by the king and are honored and are appointed rulers and mediators over others, and then they are deemed worthy even to fulfill their service to that king face to face and to converse with him and to hear his voice.

(259) But if you, as has been said before, do not deign to seek and knock, but have been eager to be among unknown soldiers, that is, to be ranked as a lowly subordinate among the lowly, and you do not wish to serve spiritual rulers, why do you blame me for calling you dead or blind or weak and paralyzed and separated from the service of Christ the king? But you sit, you might say, in your cell, attending to yourself and wronging no one at all? Would you yourself permit your own slave or servant to do this very thing, that having despised your service, he himself should go away and sit in another cell, wronging no one, nothing, not even you yourself? But what other person would ever endure to hear this? How then, sitting in your cell and being served by others, do you say you serve God? Through what works? Tell me. For if you ministered to yourself in all things and had all the needs of the body from the works of your hands, not even then should you say you serve God. For the slave is not praised for feeding and clothing himself, but if he does not also provide the commonly called "pactum" from his work each day to his own master, he is punished and condemned as useless. How then do we, living as free men and giving ourselves over to relaxation and negligence and sloth, and not only working at nothing nor ministering, and grumbling every hour if we are not ministered to by others, say that we serve God and wrong no one? For as many as one is able to serve and does not choose to do it, so many he wrongs and makes himself liable for the judgment and for the Lord's sentence which says thus: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the (260) devil and his angels. For I was hungry" and having enumerated the rest, "I was in sickness," he said, "and you did not minister to me." How then, or with what face, shall we see him, who comes to examine the work of each?

Do not be deceived; God is a fire and he came and cast fire upon the earth; which he also goes about seeking to seize matter, that is, a good purpose and intention, and to fall upon it and be kindled. And in whom it is kindled, it rises into a great flame and reaches to the heavens and does not permit the one set on fire to be idle at all or to be at rest. Nor does it burn the ignited soul unknowingly, as some of the dead suppose - for it is not senseless matter, but at first it is in perception and knowledge and unbearable pain; for it is perceptive and rational; but after these things, having made us completely clean of the filth of the passions, it becomes food and drink, illumination and joy unceasingly within us, and makes us light itself by participation. For just as a furnace being fired at first is blackened more by the smoke emitted from the fuel, but when it is fiercely burned, it becomes entirely transparent and like the fire and henceforth receives no blackness from the smoke by participation, so also the soul that begins to be fired by divine desire first sees the gloom of the passions in the fire of the Spirit being emitted as smoke within itself and beholds the blackness coming from it upon itself and laments and perceives the thorny thoughts and the brushwood-like preconceptions being completely burned down and turned to ash; and when these things are consumed and the substance of the soul alone remains without passion, then the divine and immaterial fire is united to it essentially; and immediately it is kindled and becomes transparent and partakes, just like the furnace, of the sensible

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αὐτῶν ἀπό τοῦ βασιλέως ἐλπίζουσιν, οἱ δέ καί λαμβάνουσι μεσίτας τούς ἑαυτῶν ἄρχοντας προβαλλόμενοι. Εἰσί δέ οἵ καί διά τῆς οἰκείας ἀνδρείας καί ἀρετῆς ἀκουστοί γίνονται καί παρά τοῦ βασιλέως προσλαμβάνονται καί τιμῶνται καί ἄλλων ἄρχοντες καί μεσῖται ἀποκαθίστανται, καί τηνικαῦτα καταξιοῦνται καί αὐτῷ ἐκείνῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ τήν κατά πρόσωπον ὑπηρεσίαν ἀποπληροῦν καί αὐτῷ προσομιλεῖν καί τῆς ἐκείνου ἀκούειν φωνῆς.

(259) Εἰ δέ σύ μέν, ὡς προείρηται, ζητῆσαι καί κροῦσαι οὐκ ἀνέχῃ, ἀλλά ὑπό στρατιώταις ἀνωνύμοις γενέσθαι, τουτέστιν ὑποτακτικός εὐτελής μετά εὐτελῶν καταταγῆναι προτεθύμησαι, καί ἄρχουσι πνευματικοῖς ἐκδουλεῦσαι οὐ βούλει, τί ἐμέ μέμφῃ λέγοντά σε νεκρόν ἤ τυφλόν ἤ ἀσθενῆ καί παρειμένον καί τῆς δουλείας ἀποκεχωρισμένον τοῦ βασιλέως Χριστοῦ; Ἀλλά κάθῃ, εἴποις, ἐν τῷ κελλίῳ, σεαυτῷ προσέχων καί μηδένα μηδαμῶς ἀδικῶν; Τοῦτο δέ αὐτό ἆρα ποιῆσαι καί αὐτός καταδέξῃ τόν σόν δοῦλον ἤ ὑπηρέτην, ἵνα καταφρονήσας σου τῆς ὑπηρεσίας, ἐν ἑτέρῳ καί αὐτός ἀπελθών κελλίῳ καθίσῃ, μηδένα μηδέν μηδέ σεαυτόν ἀδικῶν; Ἀλλά ἕτερος τίς ἀνθρώπων ὅλως ἀκοῦσαι τοῦτο ἀνέξεται; Πῶς οὖν, καθήμενον ἐν τῷ κελλίῳ καί παρ᾿ ἑτέρων ὑπηρετούμενος, σύ δουλεύειν λέγεις Θεῷ; ∆ιά ποίων τῶν ἔργων; Εἰπέ. Εἰ γάρ σεαυτῷ διακόνεις εἰς πάντα καί ἐκ τῶν ἔργων τῶν χειρῶν σου τά πρός χρείαν εἶχες πᾶσαν τοῦ σώματος, οὐδέ οὕτως τῷ Θεῷ δουλεύειν σε λέγειν ἐχρῆν. Ὁ γάρ δοῦλος οὐχί ἐν τῷ ἑαυτόν διατρέφειν καί ἐνδιδύσκειν ἐπαινεῖται, ἀλλ᾿ ἐάν μή καί τό κοινῶς λεγόμενον πάκτον ἐκ τοῦ ἔργου αὐτοῦ καθ᾿ ἑκάστην πρός τόν ἑαυτοῦ παρέχῃ κύριον, ὡς ἄχρηστος τιμωρεῖται καί κατακρίνεται. Πῶς οὖν ἡμεῖς, ὡς ἐλεύθεροι ζῶντες καί τῇ ἀνέσει καί ἀμελείᾳ καί ῥᾳθυμίᾳ ἑαυτούς ἐκδιδοῦντες καί μή μόνον μηδέν ἐργαζόμενοι μήτε διακονοῦντες καί καθ᾿ ὥραν γογγύζοντες, εἰ μή παρ᾿ ἑτέρων διακονούμεθα, τῷ Θεῷ δουλεύειν καί μηδένα ἀδικεῖν λέγομεν; Ὅσοις γάρ ἄν ὑπηρετεῖν δύναταί τις καί μή προαιρεῖται τοῦτο ποιεῖν, τοσούτοις ἀδικεῖ καί ὑπεύθυνον ἑαυτόν τοῦ κρίματος ἀποκαθιστᾷ καί τῆς ∆εσποτικῆς ἀποφάσεως τῆς οὕτω λεγούσης· "Ἀπέλθετε ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ οἱ κατηραμένοι εἰς τό πῦρ τό αἰώνιον τό ἡτοιμασμένον τῷ (260) διαβόλῳ καί τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ. Ἐπείνασα γάρ" καί τά ἑξῆς ἀπαριθμησάμενος "ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ ἤμην, εἶπε, καί οὐ διακονήσατέ μοι". Πῶς οὖν ἤ ποίῳ προσώπῳ αὐτόν θεασώμεθα, τό ἑκάστου ἔργον ἐρχόμενον ἐπισκέψασθαι;

Μή πλανᾶσθε· ὁ Θεός πῦρ ἐστι καί πῦρ ἦλθε καί ἔβαλεν ἐπί τῆς γῆς· ὅ καί περιέρχεται ζητῶν ὕλην δράξασθαι, ἤτοι πρόθεσιν καί προαίρεσιν ἀγαθήν, καί ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς αὐτήν καί ἀναφθῆναι. Εἰς οὕς δέ ἀναφθῇ, αἴρεται εἰς φλόγα μεγάλην καί ἀφικνεῖται ἕως τῶν οὐρανῶν καί οὐκ ἐᾷ τόν ἐμπυρισθέντα ἀργεῖν ὅλως ἤ ἠρεμεῖν. Οὐδέ ἀγνώστως, ὥς τινες οἴονται τῶν νεκρῶν, κατακαίει τήν ἐμπρησθεῖσαν ψυχήν - οὐδέ γάρ ἀναίσθητος ὕλη ἐστίν , ἀλλ᾿ ἐν αἰσθήσει καί γνώσει καί ὀδύνῃ ἀφορήτῳ τό καταρχάς· αἰσθητική γάρ ὑπάρχει καί λογική· μετά δέ ταῦτα, καθαράν τοῦ ῥύπου τῶν παθῶν τελείως ἡμᾶς, τίνεται τροφή καί πόσις, φωτισμός καί χαρά ἀδιαλείπτως ἐντός ἡμῶν, καί φῶς αὐτούς ἡμᾶς κατά μέθεξιν ἀπεργάζεται. Ὥσπερ γάρ ἐκκαιόμενος κλίβανος καταρχάς μέν ἐκ τοῦ τῆς ὕλης ἐκπεμπομένου καπνοῦ μᾶλλον μελαίνεται, ἐπάν δέ σφοδρῶς ἐκκαῇ, ὅλος διαυγής γίνεται καί τοῦ πυρός ὅμοιος καί οὐδεμίαν μελανίαν ἐκ τοῦ καπνοῦ ἔκτοτε κατά μέθεξιν προσλαμβάνει, οὕτω δή καί ψυχή ἡ τῷ θείῳ ἐναρξαμένη πόθῳ ἐκκαίεται πρῶτα μέν τόν τῶν παθῶν ζόφον ἐν τῷ πυρί τοῦ Πνεύματος ὡς καπνόν ἐν ἑαυτῇ ἐκπεμπόμενον καθορᾷ καί τήν προσοῦσαν αὐτῇ ἐξ αὐτοῦ μελανίαν ἐνοπτρίζεται καί θρηνεῖ καί τούς ἀκανθώδεις λογισμούς καί τάς φρυγανώδεις προλήψεις καταφλεγομένας καί ἀποτεφρουμένας τέλεον ἐπαισθάνεται· ἐπάν δέ ταῦτα ἐξαναλωθῇ καί ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς οὐσία μόνη χωρίς πάθους ἐναπομείνῃ, τότε οὐσιωδῶς καί αὐτῇ ἑνοῦται τό θεῖον καί ἄϋλον πῦρ· καί εὐθύς ἀνάπτεται καί διαυγάζει καί μεταλαμβάνει, ὥσπερ ὁ κλίβανος, τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ