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For while they were in the lake itself, they received crowns from the hand of God out of the water, but the one who fled to the warm bath was immediately dissolved and departed to the eternal fire. But Eustratius, renowned for his virtue, being punished for Christ, said, "Now I know that I am a temple of God and His Spirit dwells in me. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity." And to the judging tyrant he declared: "If the senses of your mind were not altered and your soul not transformed to the earthly by the leaven of passions, I would have shown you that this crucified one is savior and redeemer and benefactor." (309) Do you see how faith without works is dead? For before the saint entered the contests of martyrdom, because he had only faith, he did not have the Holy Spirit in himself; but when he showed his faith by works, then he both knew himself to be a temple of God and he saw with his spiritual eyes the Holy Spirit of God dwelling knowably within him. What could be more evident than this testimony?

But if some should say that those men were martyrs, they suffered for Christ, and how is it possible for us to become equal to them, we would say this to them: that you yourselves also, if you wish, by suffering for Christ and being punished, just as they did, will bear witness every day, not only by day, but also by night and at every hour. And how will this be? If you too array yourselves against the destructive demons, if you always stand against sin and your own will. For they struggled against tyrants, but we against demons and the destructive passions of the flesh, which both every day and night and hour tyrannically attack our souls and force us to do things that are not proper to piety and which provoke God. If, therefore, we stand against these things and do not bend the knee to Baal, nor are persuaded by the suggestions of wicked demons, nor serve the flesh by making provision for its desires, we too shall rightly be martyrs, struggling against sin, that is, remembering the martyrs and calling to mind the unbearable scourges they endured and for this reason standing against the devil; but also by looking to their labors and considering from our soul how we fall short of their contest and groaning, we may be deemed worthy of the same crowns as they, (310) if not in quantity, then at least in quality according to the goodness of God from above toward us, and if not equal to them in boldness, we shall at least be equal in patience and in thanksgiving for the terrible pains.

For they from the works and pains of athletic contest, we hope to be saved from the works and pains of ascetic practice, and the whole from the philanthropy and grace of the Lord; they from the sweat and contests of martyrdom, we from the tears and contests of asceticism; they from the shedding of their own blood, we from the cutting off of our own will and in always standing and having in ourselves the sentence of death and expecting death at every hour, readily stretching out our neck to die for every commandment of our Lord God, rather than accepting to transgress it even by a mere word. For this reason, brothers, we all ought equally with them to despise present things. For it is not, it is not possible for all of us to receive the incorruptible things without having abhorred the corruptible as dung, nor for those who cling to perishable things to gain the eternal ones, nor for one whose heart is mastered by even one small passion to have Christ dwelling within through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.

For God, brothers, that I may say it again, is light, just as he himself says: "I am," he says, "the light of the world." If, therefore, you say that he is light in the flesh, then, when he was taken up and hidden, he was consequently separated and parted from the disciples,

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μέν γάρ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ λίμνῃ ὄντες τοῦ ὕδατος ἐκ χειρός Θεοῦ τούς στεφάνους ἐδέξαντο, ὁ δέ τῷ λουτρῷ προσφυγών τῇ θέρμῃ εὐθύς διελύθη καί πρός τό αἰώνιον πῦρ ἀπελήλυθεν. Εὐστράτιος δέ ὁ ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ περιβόητος, ὑπέρ Χριστοῦ τιμωρούμενος, «Νῦν ἔγνων» ἔλεγεν «ὅτι ναός Θεοῦ εἰμι καί τό Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ οἰκεῖ ἐν ἐμοί. Ἀπόστητε ἀπ᾿ἐμοῦ πάντες οἱ ἐργάται τῆς ἀνομίας». Πρός δέ τόν δικάζοντα τύραννον ἀπεφθέγγετο· «Εἴ σοι τά αἰσθητήρια τῶν φρενῶν μή ἀλλοίωτο καί τῷ τῶν παθῶν φυράματι μή μετεσκεύαστο πρός τό γεῶδες ἡ ψυχή σου, ἔδειξα ἄν σοι τόν ἐσταυρωμένον τοῦτον σωτῆρα καί λυτρωτήν καί εὐεργέτην τυγχάνοντα». (309) Εἶδες πῶς ἡ πίστις δίχα τῶν ἔργων νεκρά ἐστι; Πρό γάρ τοῦ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τούς τοῦ μαρτυρίου ἀγῶνας τόν ἅγιον, ἐπειδή τήν πίστιν μόνην εἶχεν, οὐκ εἶχε τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἅγιον ἐν ἑαυτῷ, ὅτε δέ ἐκ τῶν ἔργων τήν πίστιν ἔδειξε, τότε καί ναόν ἑαυτόν Θεοῦ ἐπέγνω καί τό Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τό Ἅγιον οἰκοῦν ἐν ἑαυτῷ γνωστῶς τοῖς νοεροῖς ὄμμασιν ἐθεάσατο. Τί ταύτης τῆς μαρτυρίας ἐκδηλότερον γένοιτ᾿ ἄν;

Εἰ δέ λέγοιέν τινες ὅτι ἐκεῖνοι μάρτυρες ἦσαν, ἐκεῖνοι ἔπασχον ὑπέρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καί πῶς ἐκείνοις ἴσους ἡμᾶς γενέσθαι ἐνδέχεται, τοῦτο πρός αὐτούς εἴποιμεν ὅτι καί ὑμεῖς αὐτοί, εἴ γε βούλεσθε, ὑπέρ Χριστοῦ πάσχοντες καί τιμωρούμενοι, καθάπερ ἐκεῖνοι μαρτυρήσετε καθ᾿ ἑκάστην, οὐκ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μόνον, ἀλλά καί ἐν νυκτί καί ἐν πάσῃ ὥρᾳ. Καί πῶς ἔσται τοῦτο; Ἐάν καί ὑμεῖς πρός τούς ὀλεθρίους παρατάξησθε δαίμονας, ἐάν ἀεί κατά τῆς ἁμαρτίας καί τοῦ οἰκείου θελήματος ἵστασθε. Ἐκεῖνοι γάρ πρός τυράννους, ἡμεῖς δέ πρός δαίμονας ἔχομεν καί τά ὀλέθρια πάθη τῆς σαρκός, ἅτινα καί ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πάσῃ καί ἐν νυκτί καί ὥρᾳ τυραννικῶς ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν ἐπιτίθενται καί ἐκβιάζονται πρᾶξαι ἡμᾶς τά μή ἀνήκοντα τῇ θεοσεβείᾳ καί ἅ παροξύνει Θεόν. Εἰ οὖν πρός ταῦτα στῶμεν καί οὐ κάμψομεν γόνυ τῇ Βάαλ, οὐδέ ταῖς ὑποθήκαις τῶν πονηρῶν πεισθῶμεν δαιμόνων, οὐδέ λειτουργήσομεν τῇ σαρκί πρόνοιαν αὐτῆς εἰς ἐπιθυμίας ποιούμενοι, μάρτυρες εἰκότως ἐσόμεθα καί αὐτοί, πρός τήν ἁμαρτίαν ἀγωνιζόμενοι, μεμνημένοι δηλαδή τῶν μαρτύρων καί ἅς ὑπήνεγκαν ἀφορήτους μάστιγας ἐνθυμούμενοι καί διά τοῦτο κατά τοῦ διαβόλου ἱστάμενοι· ἀλλά γάρ καί πρός τούς ἐκείνων ἀποβλέποντες πόνους καί ὅπως ἡμεῖς ἀπολειπόμεθα ταῆς ἐκείνων ἀθλήσεως ἀπό ψυχῆς λογιζόμενοι καί στενάζοντες, τῶν αὐτῶν ἐκείνοις στεφάνων ἀξιωθῶμεν, (310) εἰ καί μή τῇ ποσότητι, ἀλλά γε τῇ ποιότητι κατά τήν ἄνωθεν τοῦ Θεοῦ πρός ἡμᾶς ἀγαθότητα, καί εἰ μή ἐκείνοις ἴσοι τῇ παρρησίᾳ, ἀλλά γε ἴσοι πάντως τῇ ὑπομονῇ καί τῇ πρός τά δεινά τῶν πόνων εὐχαριστίᾳ ἐσόμεθα.

Ἐκεῖνοι γάρ ἐξ ἔργων καί πόνων ἀθλήσεως, ἡμεῖς ἐξ ἔργων καί πόνων ἀσκήσεως σωθῆναι ἐλπίζομεν καί τό ὅλον ἐκ φιλανθρωπίας τῆς τοῦ ∆εσπότου καί χάριτος· ἐκεῖνοι ἐξ ἱδρώτων καί ἀγώνων μαρτυρικῶν, ἡμεῖς ἐκ δακρύων καί ἀγώνων ἀσκητικῶν· ἐκεῖνοι ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος χύσεως, ἡμεῖς ἐκ τῆς ἐκκοπῆς τοῦ ἰδίου θελήματος καί ἐν τῷ ἵστασθαι ἀεί καί ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτόῖς τό ἀπόκριμα τοῦ θανάτου καί καθ᾿ ὥραν τόν θάνατον ἀπεκδέχεσθαι, ἑτοίμως τε τόν αὐχένα ἐκτείνοντες εἰς τό ἀποθανεῖν ἐπί πάσῃ ἐντολῇ τοῦ δεσπότου ἡμῶν Θεοῦ, ἤ παραβῆναι μέχρι καί ψιλοῦ λόγου ταύτην καταδεχόμενοι. ∆ιά δή τοῦτο καί ἡμεῖς ἅπαντες ἐξ ἴσης ἐκείνοις τῶν παρόντων καταφρονῆσαι ὀφείλομεν, ἀδελφοί. Οὐ γάρ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἔστι τά ἄφθαρτα λαβεῖν πάντας ἡμᾶς μηδέ βδελυξαμένους ὡς σκύβαλα τά φθαρτά, οὐδέ τά αἰώνια κερδῆσαι τούς ἀντεχομένους τῶν ἐπικήρων, οὐδέ τόν Χριστόν ἔνοικον σχεῖν διά τῆς τοῦ Ἁγίου ἐπισκηνώσεως Πνεύματος τόν ὑπό ἑνός καί τοῦ μικροῦ πάθους τήν καρδίαν κυριευόμενον.

Ὁ γάρ Θεός, ἀδελφοί, ἵνα πάλιν ἐρῶ, φῶς ἐστι, καθώς αὐτός ἐκεῖνός φησιν· «Ἐγώ εἰμι, λέγων, τό φῶς τοῦ κόσμου». Εἰ τοίνυν τῇ σαρκί λέγεις φῶς εἶναι, ἄρα, ἀναληφθέντος καί κρυβέντος αὐτοῦ, διέστη λοιπόν καί ἐχωρίσθη τῶν μαθητῶν,