122

God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Let us also, beloved, become strangers, that God may not be ashamed of us, that he may not be ashamed, and deliver us to hell. Such were those who said, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name do many mighty works? But see what Christ says to them: I do not know you; which masters would do when wicked servants run to them, wishing to wipe away the reproach. I do not know you, he says. How then do you punish those whom you do not know? I do not know, I said in another sense, that is, I deny you and reject you. But may it not be that we hear this deadly and dreadful voice. For if those who cast out demons, and worked prophecies, were denied because they did not have a life corresponding to their words; how much more shall we be? And how, he says, is it possible for those who have shown prophecies, and performed signs, and cast out demons, to be denied? It is likely that they later changed, and became wicked; whence they profited nothing even from their former virtue. For it is not only necessary to have a brilliant beginning, but also a more brilliant end. For tell me, does not the orator strive to make the end of his speech brilliant, so as to depart with applause? And he who serves the city, does he not show forth more brilliant things at the end of his service? The athlete, if he does not show those things more brilliantly, and conquer to the very end, even if having conquered all he is conquered by the last, is not everything unprofitable to him? The helmsman, if having crossed the whole sea, he wrecks the ship at the harbor, has he not lost all his former labor? And what of the physician? If, having freed the sick man from his disease, when he is about to free him completely, he then destroys him, has he not destroyed the whole thing? So also in the case of virtue, as many as did not add an end that was consequent and harmonious and concordant with the beginning, were lost and destroyed. Such are they who leap forth from the very starting-posts brilliant and exultant, but after this become slack and faint; wherefore they were also deprived of the prize, and were not acknowledged by the Master. Let us hear these things, you lovers of money; for this happens to be the greatest iniquity; For the love of money, he says, is the root of all evil. Let us hear, who wish to make our existing substance greater; let us hear, and let us cease at some point from covetousness, that we may not hear these things which they also heard. Let us hear them now and be on our guard, that we may not hear them then; let us hear now with fear, that we may not hear then with punishment, Depart from me, he says, I never knew you, not even then, he says, when you were showing forth prophecies, and casting out demons. It is likely that here he is also hinting at something else, that even then they were of a wicked life; but from the beginning grace was at work even through the unworthy. 63.171 For if it worked even through Balaam, much more through the unworthy, and this for the sake of those who are to profit. But if even signs and wonders had no power to deliver from punishment, much more, even if one happens to be in a priestly office, even if he reaches the highest honor, even if grace works in his ordination, even in all other things for the sake of those who need his leadership, he too will hear, I never knew you, not even then, when grace was working in you. Alas, how great is the demand for purity of life there! how it of itself is sufficient to bring us into the kingdom! how, when absent, it betrays a man, even if he has countless wonders and signs to show! For nothing so pleases God as an excellent life. If you love me, he says, he did not say, Perform signs, but what? Keep my commandments. And again; I call you friends, not when you cast out demons, but, If you keep my words. For those things are of God's gift; but these things, after God's gift, are also of our own diligence. Let us strive to become friends of God, and not remain enemies. We are always saying these things, we are always exhorting both ourselves and you with these things, but nothing more comes of it; wherefore I am also afraid. And I wished indeed to be silent, so as not to increase your danger; the

122

Θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς Ἰακώβ. Γενώμεθα καὶ ἡμεῖς, ἀγαπητοὶ, ξένοι, ἵνα μὴ ἐπαισχυνθῇ ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεὸς, ἵνα μὴ ἐπαισχυνθῇ, καὶ τῇ γεέννῃ παραδῷ. Τοιοῦτοι ἦσαν ἐκεῖνοι οἱ λέγοντες, Κύριε, οὐ τῷ σῷ ὀνόματι προεφητεύσαμεν, καὶ τῷ σῷ ὀνόματι δυνάμεις πολλὰς ἐποιήσαμεν; Ἀλλ' ὁρᾶτε τί φθέγγεται πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ Χριστός· Οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς· ὅπερ ἂν ποιήσειαν δεσπόται οἰκετῶν πονηρῶν προστρεχόντων αὐτοῖς, βουλόμενοι τὸ ὄνειδος ἀποτρίψασθαι. Οὐκ οἶδα ὑμᾶς, φησί. Πῶς οὖν κολάζεις, οὓς οὐκ οἶδας; Οὐκ οἶδα, ἑτέρως εἶπον, τουτέστι, Ἀρνοῦμαι ὑμᾶς καὶ παραιτοῦμαι. Ἀλλὰ μὴ γένοιτο ταύτην ἡμᾶς ἀκοῦσαι τὴν φωνὴν τὴν ὀλεθρίαν καὶ φρικώδη. Εἰ γὰρ οἱ δαίμονας ἐκβαλόντες, καὶ προφητείας ἐργασάμενοι, ἐπειδὴ βίον οὐκ ἔσχον συμβαίνοντα τοῖς λόγοις, ἠρνήθησαν· πόσῳ μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς; Καὶ πῶς, φησὶν, ἔνι προφητείας ἐπιδειξαμένους, καὶ σημεῖα πεποιηκότας, καὶ δαιμόνια ἐκβαλόντας, ἀρνηθῆναι; Εἰκὸς αὐτοὺς ὕστερον μεταβεβλῆσθαι, καὶ γεγενῆσθαι πονηρούς· ὅθεν οὐδὲν ἀπώναντο οὐδὲ τῆς προτέρας ἀρετῆς. Οὐ γὰρ τὰ προοίμια δεῖ μόνον ἔχειν λαμπρὰ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τέλος λαμπρότερον. Εἰπὲ γάρ μοι, ὁ ῥήτωρ οὐχὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ τέλει τοῦ λόγου σπουδάζει ποιεῖν λαμπρὰ, ὥστε μετὰ κρότων ἀναχωρεῖν; ὁ δὲ λειτουργῶν πόλει, οὐχὶ τὰ ἐπ' ἐξόδῳ τῆς λειτουργίας λαμπρότερα ἐπιδείκνυται; Ὁ ἀθλητὴς ἐὰν μὴ ἐκεῖνα δείξῃ λαμπρότερα, καὶ μέχρι τέλους νικήσῃ, κἂν πάντας νικήσας νικηθῇ ὑπὸ τοῦ τελευταίου, οὐχὶ πάντα αὐτῷ ἀνόνητα; ὁ κυβερνήτης ἂν ἅπαν τὸ πέλαγος διαβαλὼν, πρὸς τῷ λιμένι καταῤῥάξῃ τὸ σκάφος, οὐχὶ πάντα ἀπώλεσε τὸν ἔμπροσθεν πόνον; Τί δὲ ὁ ἰατρός; Ἐὰν ἀπαλλάξας τῆς νόσου τὸν κάμνοντα, ὅταν μέλλῃ τέλεον ἀπαλλάττειν, τότε διαφθείρῃ, οὐχὶ τὸ πᾶν διέφθειρεν; Οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς, ὅσοι μὴ τῇ ἀρχῇ ἀκόλουθον τὸ τέλος ἐπέθηκαν καὶ σύμφωνον καὶ συνῳδὸν, ἀπώλοντο καὶ διεφθάρησαν. Τοιοῦτοί εἰσιν οἱ ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν βαλβίδων αὐτῶν λαμπροὶ καὶ γαῦροι προπηδήσαντες, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ ἐκλυθέντες, καὶ χαῦνοι γενόμενοι· διὸ καὶ τοῦ βραβείου ἀπεστερήθησαν, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ ∆εσπότου οὐκ ἐπεγνώσθησαν. Ἀκούσωμεν ταῦτα οἱ χρημάτων ἐρῶντες· ἡ γὰρ μεγίστη ἀνομία αὕτη τυγχάνει· Ῥίζα γάρ ἐστι πάντων, φησὶ, τῶν κακῶν ἡ φιλαργυρία. Ἀκούσωμεν οἱ βουλόμενοι μείζονα τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν οὐσίαν ποιεῖν· ἀκούσωμεν, καὶ παυσώμεθα τῆς πλεονεξίας ποτὲ, ἵνα μὴ ταῦτα ἀκούσωμεν ἅπερ κἀκεῖνοι. Νῦν αὐτὰ ἀκούσωμεν καὶ φυλαξώμεθα, ἵνα μὴ τότε ἀκούσωμεν· νῦν ἀκούσωμεν μετὰ φόβου, ἵνα μὴ τότε ἀκούσωμεν μετὰ τιμωρίας, Ἀπέλθετε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, φησὶν, οὐδέποτε ἔγνων ὑμᾶς, οὐδὲ τότε, φησὶν, ὅτε τὰς προφητείας ἐπεδείκνυσθε, καὶ τοὺς δαίμονας ἐξεβάλλετε. Εἰκὸς αὐτὸν ἐνταῦθα καὶ ἕτερόν τι αἰνίττεσθαι, ὅτι καὶ τότε βίου ἦσαν πονηροῦ· παρὰ δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ δι' ἀναξίων ἐνήργει ἡ χάρις. 63.171 Εἰ γὰρ καὶ διὰ Βαλαὰμ ἐνήργησε, πολλῷ μᾶλλον δι' ἀναξίων, καὶ τοῦτο διὰ τοὺς μέλλοντας κερδαίνειν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα οὐκ ἴσχυσε κολάσεως ἀπαλλάξαι, πολλῷ μᾶλλον, κἂν ἐν ἀξιώματι ἱερατικῷ τις ὢν τυγχάνῃ, κἂν εἰς τὴν ἀνωτάτω τιμὴν φθάσῃ, κἂν εἰς τὴν χειροτονίαν ἐνεργήσῃ ἡ χάρις, κἂν εἰς τὰ ἄλλα πάντα διὰ τοὺς τῆς προστασίας δεομένους, ἀκούσεται καὶ αὐτὸς, Οὐδέποτέ σε ἔγνων, οὐδὲ τότε, ὅτε ἐνήργησεν ἐν σοὶ ἡ χάρις. Βαβαὶ, πόση τῆς τοῦ βίου καθαρότητος ἡ ζήτησις ἐκεῖ! πῶς αὐτὴ καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἀρκεῖ εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν ἡμᾶς εἰσαγαγεῖν! πῶς δὲ ἀποῦσα προδίδωσι τὸν ἄνδρα, κἂν μυρία ἔχῃ τέρατα καὶ σημεῖα ἐπιδείκνυσθαι! Οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως εὐφραίνει τὸν Θεὸν, ὡς πολιτεία ἀρίστη. Ἐὰν ἀγαπᾶτέ με, φησὶν, οὐκ εἶπε, Σημεῖα ποιήσατε, ἀλλὰ τί; Τὰς ἐντολάς μου τηρήσατε. Καὶ πάλιν· Φίλους ὑμᾶς λέγω, οὐχ ὅταν δαιμόνια ἐκβάλητε, ἀλλ' Ἐὰν τηρήσητε τοὺς λόγους τοὺς ἐμούς. Ἐκεῖνα μὲν γὰρ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ δωρεᾶς ἐστι· ταῦτα δὲ μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ δωρεὰν καὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας σπουδῆς. Σπουδάσωμεν γενέσθαι φίλοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ μὴ μένωμεν ἐχθροί. Ἀεὶ ταῦτα λέγομεν, ἀεὶ ταῦτα παραινοῦμεν καὶ ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς καὶ ὑμῖν, πλέον δὲ οὐδὲν γίνεται· διὸ καὶ δέδοικα. Καὶ ἐβουλόμην μὲν σιγῆσαι, ὥστε μὴ τὸν κίνδυνον ὑμῖν αὐξῆσαι· τὸ