119

injurious, and wicked, consider yourself, and examine your own things accurately, and you will repent of what has been said. For there is not, there is not such an exhortation to virtue, as the remembrance of sins. If we turn these two things over in our minds, we will be able to obtain the promised good things, we will be able to cleanse and wipe ourselves clean; only let us sometime take thought, let us be concerned about the matter, beloved; let us feel pain here in our thoughts, that we may not feel pain there in punishment, but that we may enjoy the eternal good things, where pain, grief, and sighing have fled away; that we may obtain the eternal good things that surpass human understanding, in Christ Jesus; to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

HOMILY XXIV. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but

having seen them from afar and greeted them, and confessed that they are strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. And if they had been mindful of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return; but now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God; for he has prepared a city for them. 1. The first virtue, and all virtue, is to be a stranger to this world and a pilgrim, and to have nothing in common with the things here, but to be detached from them as from foreign things, just as those blessed 63.166 disciples were, about whom he says: They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They indeed said they were strangers; but Paul said something much more. For he did not simply say he was a stranger, but he said he was dead to the world, and the world dead to him. For to me, he says, the world has been crucified, and I to the world. But we, as if citizens, and living very much as citizens, so do we conduct all our affairs here; and what the righteous were to the world, strangers and dead, that we are to heaven; and what they were to heaven, living and conducting themselves as citizens, that we are to the world. For this reason we are dead, because we have denied the 63.167 true life, and have chosen this temporary one; for this reason we provoke God, because when the enjoyment of the things in heaven is set before us, we are not even so willing to stand aloof from the things on earth, but, like certain worms, we turn from the earth to the earth, and again from this to this, and we are not willing to look up at all, not even for a little, nor to detach ourselves from human affairs, but as if plunged into a kind of stupor and sleep and drunkenness, we are struck with amazement at fantasies. And just as those who are held by a sweet sleep, not only at night, but even when dawn has broken, and the day has become bright, lie on their beds, and are not ashamed to indulge in pleasure, and make the time for work and earnestness a time for sleep and laziness; so also we, when the day is at hand, when the night is far spent, or rather, when it is day; For, he says, work while it is day; when it is day, we do all the things of the night, sleeping, seeing dreams, delighting in fantasies; and the eyes of our mind and of our body are closed, we speak incoherently, we talk nonsense; and if someone should strike us a deep blow, we do not even feel it, and if they should seize all our substance, and if they should burn our very house; or rather we do not even wait for others to do this, but we do this ourselves, piercing and striking ourselves every day, lying in an unseemly way, and stripped of all good repute, of all honor, and neither covering our shameful deeds ourselves, nor allowing others to do so, but into the midst of shame for those who see and

119

λυμεὼν, καὶ μοχθηρὸς, ἐννόησον σαυτὸν, καὶ ἐξέτασον ἀκριβῶς τὰ σαυτοῦ, καὶ μεταμελήσει σοι ἐπὶ τοῖς λεχθεῖσιν. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἔστι πρὸς ἀρετὴν προτροπή τις τοιαύτη, οἷον ἁμαρτημάτων ἀνάμνησις. Ἐὰν ταῦτα τὰ δύο στρέφωμεν παρ' ἑαυτοῖς, δυνησόμεθα τυχεῖν τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἀγαθῶν, δυνησόμεθα καθαίρειν ἑαυτοὺς καὶ ἀποσμήχειν· μόνον λάβωμεν ἔννοιάν ποτε, μεριμνήσωμεν τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἀγαπητοί· ἀλγήσωμεν ἐνταῦθα τῷ λογισμῷ, ἵνα μὴ ἀλγήσωμεν ἐκεῖ τῇ κολάσει, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἀπολαύσωμεν τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν, ἔνθα ἀπέδρα ὀδύνη, λύπη, καὶ στεναγμός· ἵνα τύχωμεν τῶν ὑπερβαινόντων τὸν ἀνθρώπινον νοῦν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ· αὐτῷ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Κ∆ʹ. Κατὰ πίστιν ἀπέθανον οὗτοι πάντες, μὴ λαβόν τες τὰς ἐπαγγελίας, ἀλλὰ

πόῤῥωθεν αὐτὰς ἰδόντες καὶ ἀσπασάμενοι, καὶ ὁμολογήσαντες ὅτι ξένοι καὶ παρεπίδημοί εἰσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Οἱ γὰρ τοιαῦτα λέγοντες ἐμφανίζουσιν ὅτι πατρίδα ἐπιζητοῦσι. Καὶ εἰ μὲν ἐκείνης ἐμνη μόνευον, ἀφ' ἧς ἐξῆλθον, εἶχον ἂν καιρὸν ἀνακάμψαι· νῦν δὲ κρείττονος ὀρέγονται, τουτέστιν, ἐπουρανίου. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐπαι σχύνεται αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεὸς, Θεὸς ἐπικαλεῖσθαι αὐτῶν· ἡτοίμασε γὰρ αὐτοῖς πόλιν. αʹ. Ἡ πρώτη ἀρετὴ, καὶ ἡ πᾶσα ἀρετὴ τὸ ξένον εἶναι τοῦ κόσμου τούτου καὶ παρεπίδημον, καὶ μηδὲν κοινὸν ἔχειν πρὸς τὰ ἐνταῦθα πράγματα, ἀλλὰ ἀπηρτῆσθαι αὐτῶν ὥσπερ ξένων, καθάπερ οἱ μακάριοι 63.166 μαθηταὶ ἐκεῖνοι, περὶ ὧν φησι· Περιῆλθον ἐν μηλωταῖς, ἐν αἰγείοις δέρμασιν, ὑστερούμενοι, θλιβόμενοι, κακουχούμενοι, ὧν οὐκ ἦν ἄξιος ὁ κόσμος. Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν ξένους ἔλεγον εἶναι ἑαυτούς· ὁ δὲ Παῦλος καὶ πολλῷ τι πλέον εἶπεν. Οὐ γὰρ ξένον ἑαυτὸν ἁπλῶς εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ νεκρὸν εἶπε τῷ κόσμῳ, καὶ τὸν κόσμον αὐτῷ νεκρόν. Ἐμοὶ γὰρ, φησὶν, ὁ κόσμος ἐσταύρωται, κἀγὼ τῷ κόσμῳ. Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς ὡς καὶ πολῖται, καὶ σφόδρα ζῶντες ὡς πολῖται, οὕτω πάντα ἐνταῦθα πραγματευόμεθα· καὶ ὅπερ ἦσαν τῷ κόσμῳ οἱ δίκαιοι, ξένοι καὶ νεκροὶ, τοῦτο ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν τῷ οὐρανῷ· ὅπερ δὲ ἦσαν ἐκεῖνοι τῷ οὐρανῷ, ζῶντες καὶ πολιτευόμενοι, τοῦτο ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν τῷ κόσμῳ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τεθνήκαμεν, ὅτι τὴν 63.167 ὄντως ζωὴν ἠρνησάμεθα, καὶ τὴν πρόσκαιρον ταύτην εἱλόμεθα· διὰ τοῦτο παροξύνομεν τὸν Θεὸν, ὅτι προκειμένης ἡμῖν τῆς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς ἀπολαύσεως, οὐδὲ οὕτω τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀποστῆναι βουλόμεθα, ἀλλὰ, καθάπερ τινὲς σκώληκες, ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς εἰς τὴν γῆν, καὶ πάλιν ἀπὸ ταύτης εἰς ταύτην περιστρεφόμεθα, καὶ ὅλως οὐδὲ μικρὸν ἀνακύψαι βουλόμεθα, οὐδὲ ἀποστῆσαι ἑαυτοὺς τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ὑπό τινος κάρου καὶ ὕπνου καὶ μέθης καταβαπτισθέντες, καταπεπλήγμεθα φανταζόμενοι. Καὶ καθάπερ οἱ γλυκεῖ κατεχόμενοι ὕπνῳ, οὐ μόνον ἐν νυκτὶ, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ὄρθρου καταλαβόντος, καὶ λαμπρᾶς γενομένης ἡμέρας κεῖνται ἐπὶ κλίνης, καὶ οὐκ αἰσχύνονται τῇ ἡδονῇ χαριζόμενοι, καὶ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς ἐργασίας καὶ τῆς σπουδῆς, τοῦτον καιρὸν ποιούμενοι ὕπνου καὶ νωθείας· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἡμεῖς, τῆς ἡμέρας ἐγγιζούσης, τῆς νυκτὸς προκοπτούσης, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς ἡμέρας· Ἐργάζεσθε γὰρ, φησὶν, ἕως ἐστὶν ἡμέρα· ἡμέρας οὔσης, τὰ τῆς νυκτὸς πράττομεν ἅπαντα, καθεύδοντες, ὀνείρατα βλέποντες, φαντασίαις ἐντρυφῶντες· καὶ μεμύκασιν ἡμῖν οἱ τῆς διανοίας ὀφθαλμοὶ καὶ οἱ τοῦ σώματος, παραφθεγγόμεθα, παραλαλοῦμεν· κἂν βαθεῖαν ἡμᾶς πλήξῃ τις πληγὴν, οὐδὲ αἰσθανόμεθα, κἂν πᾶσαν ἡμῶν διαρπάσῃ τὴν οὐσίαν, κἂν αὐτὴν ἐμπρήσῃ τὴν οἰκίαν· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ ἀναμένομεν ἑτέρους τοῦτο ποιεῖν, ἀλλ' αὐτοὶ τοῦτο πράττομεν κεντοῦντες ἑαυτοὺς καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν καὶ πλήττοντες, ἀσχημόνως κείμενοι, καὶ γεγυμνωμένοι πάσης εὐδοξίας, πάσης τιμῆς, καὶ τὰ αἰσχρὰ ἡμῶν ἔργα οὔτε αὐτοὶ συγκαλύπτοντες, οὔτε ἑτέροις ἐπιτρέποντες τοῦτο ποιεῖν, ἀλλ' εἰς μέσην ἀσχημοσύνην τοῖς ὁρῶσι καὶ