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as himself of the philanthropy of God. For he who is exacting with his fellow servant will have God doing this much more. Let us not then speak against ourselves, but whether they approach through indolence or through idleness, let us provide. For we too sin much through indolence, or rather everything through indolence, and God does not immediately demand justice from us, but gives us a time for repentance, feeding us each day, disciplining, teaching, supplying all other things, so that we too might emulate this mercy of His. Let us then put an end to this cruelty, let us cast out this brutishness, as we are benefiting ourselves more than others. For to them we give silver and bread and clothing, but for ourselves we lay up beforehand the greatest glory, which cannot be expressed in words. For having received our bodies incorruptible, we will be glorified together and reign together with Christ; and how great this is, from this we shall know, or rather, we shall not know it clearly from anywhere now; but so that, having been led up from the good things among us, we might receive at least some small notion of it, I will try, as far as I am able, to explain what has been said. For tell me, if someone promised to suddenly make you, who are grown old and living in poverty, young, and bring you to the very prime of life, and make you very strong and beautiful above all others, and to give you the kingdom of the whole earth for a thousand years, a kingdom having the most profound peace, what would you not choose to do and suffer for this promise? Behold then, Christ promises not these things, but things much greater than these. For the difference between corruption and incorruption is not as great as the space between old age and youth; nor is the difference between the glory to come and the present one as great as that between a kingdom and poverty, but as great as that between dreams and reality. 60.537 10. Rather, I have said nothing yet; for there is no word sufficient to express the magnitude of the difference of the things to come compared to the things present; and on account of time, it is not possible to conceive of a difference at all. For how could one compare a life that has no end with the things present? And the difference of that peace compared to the present is as great as the difference between peace and war; and of incorruption, as much as a pure pearl is better than a clod of clay; or rather, whatever one might say, one will not be able to express anything. For even if I compare the beauty of the bodies then to the light of a sunbeam, or to the brightest lightning, I will still say nothing worthy of that splendor. For the sake of these things, how much is it not worth giving up, both money and bodies, or rather, how many lives is it not worth giving up? Now, if someone led you into a palace, and in the presence of all prepared for the king to converse with you, and made you share his table and his life, you would say you were more blessed than all; but when you are about to ascend to heaven, and to stand beside the King of all, and to shine in answer to the angels, and to enjoy that ineffable glory, do you doubt whether you must give up your money, when, even if you had to lay down your very life, you ought to leap and exult and be winged with pleasure? But you, in order to obtain an office that gives you opportunities for theft (for I would not call such a thing profit), you both cast away what you have, and having borrowed from others, if need be, you do not hesitate to mortgage your wife and children; but when the kingdom of heaven is set before you, an office that has no successor, and God commands you to receive not a part of a corner of the earth, but the whole heaven, you hesitate and shrink back, and you gape for money, and do not consider that if the parts of that heaven towards us are so beautiful and delightful, how great are the things above, and the heaven of heaven? But since for now it is not possible to see these things with the eyes of the body, ascend with your reason, and standing above this heaven, look up to that heaven higher than this one, to the infinite height, to the light full of awe, to the hosts of angels, to the countless troops of archangels, to the other incorporeal powers. And again, having descended from above, take hold of the image among us,

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ὡς ἑαυτὸν τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας. Ὁ γὰρ περὶ τὸν σύνδουλον ἀκριβολογούμενος πολλῷ μᾶλλον τὸν Θεὸν ἕξει τοῦτο ποιοῦντα. Μὴ τοίνυν καθ' ἡμῶν φθεγγώμεθα, ἀλλὰ κἂν διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν, κἂν δι' ἀργίαν προσίωσιν, ἡμεῖς παρέχωμεν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἡμεῖς πολλὰ διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν ἁμαρτάνομεν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἅπαντα διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν, καὶ οὐκ ἀπαιτεῖ δίκην ἡμᾶς εὐθέως ὁ Θεὸς, ἀλλὰ δίδωσι προθεσμίαν μετανοίας ἡμῖν, τρέφων καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, παιδεύων, διδάσκων, τὰ ἄλλα πάντα χορηγῶν, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς ζηλώσωμεν αὐτοῦ τὸν ἔλεον τοῦτον. Καταλύσωμεν τοίνυν τὴν ὠμότητα ταύτην, ἐκβάλωμεν τὴν θηριωδίαν, ἅτε ἑαυτοὺς μᾶλλον ἢ ἑτέρους εὐεργετοῦντες. Τούτοις μὲν γὰρ ἀργύριον διδόαμεν καὶ ἄρτον καὶ ἱμάτιον, ἡμῖν δὲ αὐτοῖς μεγίστην προαποτιθέμεθα δόξαν, καὶ ἣν οὐκ ἔνι παραστῆσαι λόγῳ. Τὰ γὰρ σώματα ἄφθαρτα ἀπολαβόντες, συνδοξασόμεθα καὶ συμβασιλεύσομεν τῷ Χριστῷ· τοῦτο δὲ ἡλίκον ἐστὶν, ἐντεῦθεν εἰσόμεθα, μᾶλλον δὲ σαφῶς μὲν οὐδαμόθεν εἰσόμεθα νῦν· ὥστε δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν ἀναχθέντας μικρὰν γοῦν τινα αὐτοῦ λαβεῖν ἔννοιαν, ὡς ἂν οἷός τε ὦ, παραστῆσαι πειράσομαι τὸ εἰρημένον. Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, εἴ τίς σε γεγηρακότα καὶ ἐν πενίᾳ ζῶντα ἐπηγγέλλετο ἐξαίφνης ποιήσειν νέον, καὶ εἰς αὐτὴν ἄξειν τῆς ἡλικίας τὴν ἀκμὴν, καὶ σφόδρα ἰσχυρὸν καὶ ὡραῖον ὑπὲρ ἅπαντας κατασκευάζειν, καὶ βασιλείαν δώσειν τῆς γῆς ἁπάσης ἐπὶ ἔτεσι χιλίοις, βασιλείαν εἰρήνην ἔχουσαν βαθυτάτην, τί οὐκ ἂν ὑπὲρ ταύτης τῆς ὑποσχέσεως εἴλου ποιῆσαι καὶ παθεῖν; Ἰδοὺ τοίνυν ὁ Χριστὸς οὐχὶ ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ μείζονα τούτων ἐπαγγέλλεται. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὅσον γήρως καὶ νεότητος τὸ μέσον, τοσοῦτον φθορᾶς καὶ ἀφθαρσίας τὸ διάφορον· οὐδὲ ὅσον βασιλείας καὶ πενίας, τοσοῦτον τῆς δόξης τῆς μελλούσης καὶ τῆς παρούσης, ἀλλ' ὅσον ὀνειράτων καὶ ἀληθείας. 60.537 ιʹ. Μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲν οὐδέπω εἴρηκα· οὐδὲ γάρ ἐστι λόγος ἱκανὸς παραστῆσαι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς διαφορᾶς τῶν ἐσομένων πρὸς τὰ παρόντα· χρόνου δὲ ἕνεκεν οὐδὲ ὅλως ἔστιν ἐννοῆσαι διαφοράν. Πῶς γὰρ ἄν τις παραβάλοι τοῖς παροῦσι ζωὴν τέλος οὐκ ἔχουσαν; Τῆς δὲ εἰρήνης τοσοῦτον τὸ μέσον πρὸς τὴν παροῦσαν, ὅσον εἰρήνης καὶ πολέμου τὸ διάφορον· καὶ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας, ὅσον βώλου πηλίνης ὁ καθαρὸς μαργαρίτης ἀμείνων· μᾶλλον δὲ ὅσον ἂν εἴπῃ τις, οὐδὲν παραστῆσαι δυνήσεται. Κἂν γὰρ τῷ τῆς ἀκτῖνος παραβάλω φωτὶ τὸ κάλλος τῶν τότε σωμάτων, κἂν ἀστραπῇ τῇ φανοτάτῃ, οὐδὲν οὐδέπω τῆς λαμπρότητος ἄξιον ἐκείνης ἐρῶ. Ὑπὲρ δὴ τούτων πόσα οὐκ ἄξιον προέσθαι καὶ χρήματα καὶ σώματα, μᾶλλον δὲ πόσας οὐκ ἄξιον προέσθαι ψυχάς; Νῦν μὲν εἰ μέν τίς σε εἰς βασίλεια εἰσῆγε, καὶ πάντων παρόντων διαλεχθῆναί σοι παρεσκεύασε τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ ὁμοτράπεζον καὶ ὁμοδίαιτον ἐποίει αὐτῷ, πάντων ἂν ἔφης σαυτὸν εἶναι μακαριώτερον· εἰς δὲ τὸν οὐρανὸν μέλλων ἀναβαίνειν, καὶ παρ' αὐτὸν ἑστάναι τὸν τῶν ὅλων βασιλέα, καὶ ἀντιλάμπειν τοῖς ἀγγέλοις, καὶ τῆς ἀποῤῥήτου δόξης ἀπολαύειν ἐκείνης, ἀμφιβάλλεις εἰ δεῖ προέσθαι χρήματα, δέον, εἰ καὶ τὴν ζωὴν αὐτὴν ἀποδύσασθαι ἔδει, σκιρτᾷν καὶ ἀγάλλεσθαι καὶ πτεροῦσθαι τῇ ἡδονῇ. Σὺ δὲ ἵνα μὲν ἀρχὴν λάβῃς τὴν παρέχουσάν σοι κλοπῶν ἀφορμὰς (οὐ γὰρ ἂν εἴποιμι κέρδος τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐγὼ), καὶ τὰ ὄντα ἐκβάλλεις, καὶ τὰ ἑτέρων δανεισάμενος, εἰ δέοι, καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα ὑποθέσθαι οὐ κατοκνεῖς· τῆς δὲ βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν προκειμένης, τῆς οὐδένα διάδοχον ἐχούσης ἀρχῆς, καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ κελεύοντος οὐ μέρος γωνίας γῆς, ἀλλ' ὁλόκληρον λαβεῖν τὸν οὐρανὸν, ὀκνεῖς καὶ ἀναδύῃ, καὶ πρὸς χρήματα κέχηνας, καὶ οὐκ ἐννοεῖς, ὅτι εἰ τὰ πρὸς ἡμᾶς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐκείνου μέρη οὕτω καλὰ καὶ τερπνὰ, ἡλίκα τὰ ἄνω, καὶ ὁ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οὐρανός; Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τέως σώματος ὀφθαλμοῖς ταῦτα ἰδεῖν οὐκ ἔνι, ἀνάβηθι τῷ λογισμῷ, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸν οὐρανὸν τοῦτον στὰς, ἀνάβλεψον εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἀνωτέρω τούτου οὐρανὸν, εἰς τὸ ὕψος τὸ ἄπειρον, εἰς τὸ φῶς τὸ φρίκης γέμον, εἰς τοὺς τῶν ἀγγέλων δήμους, εἰς τὰ στίφη τῶν ἀρχαγγέλων τὰ ἄπειρα, εἰς τὰς ἄλλας τὰς ἀσωμάτους δυνάμεις. Καὶ πάλιν ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς παρ' ἡμῖν εἰκόνος καταβὰς ἄνωθεν,