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exposed to passers-by for laughter, for countless jests. Do you not think that even the wicked mock those of like character, and condemn them? For since God has implanted in us an incorruptible tribunal, never to be corrupted, even if we should descend to the very depth of wickedness; for this reason even the wicked condemn themselves, and if anyone calls them what they are, they are ashamed, they are angry, they call the matter an insult. Thus, if not by deeds, yet by words they condemn what they practice, through their conscience, or rather even through their deeds. For when they act in secret and in hiding, they give the greatest proof of the opinion which they have concerning the matter. For so manifest is wickedness, that all are its accusers, even those who practice it; and such is virtue, that it is admired even by those who do not emulate it. For even the fornicator will praise chastity, and the covetous man will condemn injustice, and the wrathful man will admire forbearance, and he will find fault with pusillanimity, and the licentious man licentiousness. How then, one asks, does he practice them? From much carelessness, not judging it to be good; since he would neither have been ashamed of the matter, nor would he have denied it if another accused him. And many, being caught, not bearing the shame, have even hanged themselves; so great is the testimony for the good and the fitting that is within us; so are good things brighter than the sun, and their opposites uglier than all things. 2. Strangers and pilgrims were the saints. How and in what 63.168 way? And where does Abraham confess that he is a stranger and a pilgrim? Perhaps he himself also confessed it; but that David confessed it is surely clear to all; and hear him saying, I am a stranger and a pilgrim, as all my fathers were. For those dwelling in tents, those buying tombs for money, it is clear that they were strangers in such a way that they did not even have a place to bury their own dead. What then? Did they say they were strangers only in that land of Palestine? By no means, but of the whole world, and reasonably so; for they saw nothing in it of the things which they wanted, but all things were strange and alien. They indeed wished to practice virtue; but here, where there was much wickedness, things were alienated from them; they had no friend, no kinsman, except for a few. And how were they strangers? By not caring for the things here, and they showed this not through words, but also through their very deeds. How and in what way? He said to Abraham: Leave your supposed fatherland, and come to the foreign land; and he did not cling to his own, but as if he were about to leave a strange land, so he left it without attachment. He said to him: Offer up your son; and as though not having a son, so he offered him up, as though not clothed in nature, so he offered him up He held his possessions in common for all who passed by, and he considered the matter as nothing; he yielded the first places to others, he cast himself into dangers, he suffered countless terrible things; he did not build splendid houses, nor did he live luxuriously, nor care for his garments, nor for anything else that belongs to this world; but he lived entirely according to the city there, he showed hospitality, brotherly love, almsgiving, forbearance, contempt for money and for present glory and for all other things. And his son was also of this sort; being driven out, being fought against, he yielded and gave way, as being in a strange land; for strangers, whatever they may suffer, they bear, as not being in their fatherland. And when his wife was taken from him, he bore this too, as a stranger; but he lived entirely by the things above, displaying all chastity and decorum. For after begetting a child, he no longer had intercourse with his wife; and when the prime of his youth had passed, then he took her, showing that he did this not on account of passion, but in service to the promise of God. And what of Jacob? Did he not seek only bread and clothing, which are truly the requests of strangers who have come into great poverty? Did he not, when driven out, withdraw, like a stranger? Did he not serve? Did he not suffer countless terrible things, wandering everywhere like a stranger? But these things

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παριοῦσι προκείμενοι εἰς γέλωτα, εἰς σκώμματα μυρία. Οὐκ οἴεσθε καὶ αὐτοὺς τοὺς πονηροὺς καταγελᾷν τῶν ὁμοτρόπων, καὶ καταγινώσκειν αὐτῶν; Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡμῖν ἐντέθεικεν ὁ Θεὸς δικαστήριον ἀδέκαστον, οὐδέποτε διαφθειρόμενον, κἂν εἰς αὐτὸν τῆς κακίας ἔλθωμεν τὸν πυθμένα· τούτου χάριν καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ πονηροὶ καταδικάζουσιν ἑαυτοὺς, κἂν αὐτοὺς καλέσῃ τις τοῦτο, ὅπερ εἰσὶν, αἰσχύνονται, ὀργίζονται, ὕβριν τὸ πρᾶγμά φασιν. Οὕτως εἰ καὶ μὴ δι' ἔργων, ἀλλὰ διὰ λόγων καταδικάζουσιν ἅπερ πράττουσι, διὰ τοῦ συνειδότος, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἔργων. Ὅταν γὰρ λανθάνοντες καὶ κρυπτόμενοι πράττωσι, μέγιστον ἐκφέρουσι δεῖγμα γνώμης, ἣν περὶ τοῦ πράγματος ἔχουσιν. Οὕτω γὰρ δήλη ἐστὶν ἡ κακία, ὡς πάντας αὐτῆς εἶναι κατηγόρους, καὶ τοὺς μετιόντας αὐτήν· τοιοῦτον δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἀρετὴ, ὡς καὶ παρ' ἐκείνων θαυμάζεσθαι τῶν μὴ ζηλούντων αὐτήν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ὁ πόρνος ἐπαινέσεται τὴν σωφροσύνην, καὶ ὁ πλεονέκτης καταγνώσεται τῆς ἀδικίας, καὶ ὁ ὀργίλος τὴν ἀνεξικακίαν θαυμάσεται, καὶ τὴν μικροψυχίαν μέμψεται, καὶ τὴν ἀσέλγειαν ὁ ἀσελγής. Πῶς οὖν αὐτὰ μέτεισι, φησίν; Ἀπὸ ῥᾳθυμίας πολλῆς, οὐ κρίνας εἶναι καλόν· ἐπεὶ οὐδ' ἂν ᾐσχύνθη τῷ πράγματι, οὐδ' ἂν ἠρνήσατο κατηγοροῦντος ἑτέρου. Πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ προληφθέντες, τὴν αἰσχύνην οὐ φέροντες, καὶ ἀπήγξαντο· τοσαύτη τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ πρέποντος ἔνεστιν ἡμῖν ἡ μαρτυρία· οὕτως ἡλίου λαμπρότερα τὰ καλὰ, καὶ πάντων δυσειδέστερα τὰ ἐναντία. βʹ. Ξένοι καὶ παρεπίδημοι ἦσαν οἱ ἅγιοι. Πῶς καὶ τίνι 63.168 τρόπῳ; ποῦ δὲ ὁμολογεῖ ὁ Ἀβραὰμ ξένος εἶναι καὶ παρεπίδημος; Ἴσως μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς ὡμολόγησεν· ὁ δὲ ∆αυῒδ ὅτι ὡμολόγησε, παντί που δῆλον· καὶ ἄκουε αὐτοῦ λέγοντος, ὅτι Ξένος εἰμὶ καὶ παρεπίδημος, καθὼς πάντες οἱ πατέρες μου. Οἱ γὰρ ἐν σκηναῖς κατοικοῦντες, οἱ ἀργυρίου καὶ τάφους ὠνούμενοι δῆλον ὅτι ξένοι τινὲς οὕτως ἦσαν, ὥστε μηδὲ ὅπου θάψωσι τοὺς νεκροὺς ἑαυτῶν ἔχειν. Τί οὖν; ἆρα τῆς γῆς ἐκείνης μόνον ἔλεγον εἶναι ξένοι τῆς ἐν Παλαιστίνῃ; Οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλὰ τῆς οἰκουμένης πάσης, καὶ εἰκότως· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐθεώρουν ἐν αὐτῇ τούτων ὧν ἐβούλοντο, ἀλλὰ πάντα ξένα καὶ ἀλλότρια. Αὐτοὶ μὲν οὖν τὴν ἀρετὴν ἀσκεῖν ἠβούλοντο· ἐνταῦθα δὲ, ἔνθα ἦν κακία πολλὴ, καὶ ἀπεξένωτο πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὰ πράγματα· οὐδένα φίλον, οὐδένα οἰκεῖον εἶχον, πλὴν ὀλίγων τινῶν. Πῶς δὲ ξένοι ἦσαν; Οὐκ ἐπιμελούμενοι τῶν ἐνταῦθα καὶ τοῦτο οὐ διὰ ῥημάτων, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ πραγμάτων αὐτῶν ἐδείκνυον. Πῶς καὶ τίνι τρόπῳ; Εἶπε τῷ Ἀβραάμ· Ἄφες τὴν πατρίδα τὴν δοκοῦσαν, καὶ ἐλθὲ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν· καὶ οὐκ ἀντέσχετο τῶν οἰκείων, ἀλλ' ὡς ξένην μέλλων ἀφιέναι, οὕτως ἀπροσπαθῶς αὐτὴν εἴασεν. Εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ἀνένεγκε τὸν υἱόν σου· καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἔχων υἱὸν, οὕτως αὐτὸν ἀνήνεγκεν, ὡς οὐκ ἐνδεδυμένος τὴν φύσιν, οὕτως αὐτὸν ἀνήνεγκε Τὰ χρήματα κοινὰ ἐκέκτητο τοῖς παριοῦσιν ἅπασι, καὶ οὐδὲν τὸ πρᾶγμα ἡγεῖτο· τῶν πρωτείων ἑτέροις παρεχώρει, εἰς κινδύνους ἑαυτὸν ἐνέβαλλε, μυρία ἔπασχε δεινά· οὐκ οἰκίας ᾠκοδόμει λαμπρὰς, οὐδὲ ἐτρύφα, οὐχ ἱματίων ἐπεμελεῖτο, οὐκ ἄλλου οὐδενὸς, ἃ τῶν ἐνταῦθά ἐστιν· ἀλλὰ πάντα τὰ τῆς ἐκεῖ πόλεως ἐπολιτεύετο, φιλοξενίαν ἐπεδείκνυτο, φιλαδελφίαν, ἐλεημοσύνην, ἀνεξικακίαν, ὑπεροψίαν χρημάτων καὶ τῆς παρούσης δόξης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων. Καὶ ὁ τούτου δὲ παῖς τοιοῦτος ἦν· ἐλαυνόμενος, πολεμούμενος εἶκε καὶ παρεχώρει, ἅτε ἐν ξένῃ ὤν· οἱ γὰρ ξένοι, ὅσα ἂν πάθωσι, φέρουσιν, ἅτε οὐκ ὄντες ἐν πατρίδι. Καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς ἀφαιρουμένης, καὶ τοῦτο ἔφερεν, ἅτε ξένος· τὰ δὲ ἄνω πάντα ἐπολιτεύετο, σωφροσύνην, κοσμιότητα ἐπιδεικνύμενος πᾶσαν. Καὶ γὰρ μετὰ τὸ παιδοποιῆσαι, οὐκέτι ὡμίλησε τῇ γυναικί· καὶ παρελθούσης δὲ τῆς ἀκμῆς τῆς νεότητος, τότε αὐτὴν ἠγάγετο, δεικνὺς ὅτι οὐ πάθους ἕνεκεν τοῦτο ἐποίει, ἀλλὰ ὑπηρετούμενος τῇ ἐπαγγελίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τί δὲ ὁ Ἰακώβ; οὐχὶ ἄρτον ἐζήτει μόνον καὶ ἱμάτιον, ἃ ξένων ἐστὶν ὄντως αἰτήματα τῶν εἰς πενίαν ἐλθόντων πολλήν; οὐχὶ ἐλαυνόμενος ἀνεχώρει, καθάπερ ξένος; οὐχὶ ἐθήτευεν; οὐχὶ μυρία ἔπασχε δεινὰ, περιιὼν πανταχοῦ καθάπερ ξένος; Ταῦτα δὲ