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unwilling [to disperse] the cloud of the passions, but as in mire, in your filthy heart, you overlook lying there the One who came down from the heavens for your salvation.

For this reason, therefore, the light says these things: “Out of your own mouth I will judge you, wicked servant, because when I had come, as you say, and dwelt in you—I who am inaccessible to the orders above—you yourself, knowing this, left me to lie under the darkness, separated from your evil things, just as you yourself say this; and though I persevered for so many years (312) and awaited your repentance and looked for the working of my commandments, you were not willing to the very end to seek me out even a little, nor did you pity me as I was being suffocated and distressed within you, nor did you allow me to find the drachma I lost—you yourself; you allowed it that I not be permitted to be kindled and to behold you and be beheld by you, but instead to be always concealed by the passions within you. Depart from me, therefore, you worker of iniquity, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, since I hungered for your conversion and repentance, and you gave me nothing to eat; I thirsted for your salvation, and you gave me nothing to drink; I was naked of your virtuous deeds, and you did not clothe me with them; I was in the most narrow and filthy and dark prison of your heart, and you were not willing to visit or bring me out into the light; you knew I was lying down in the sickness of your sloth and inaction, and you did not minister to me through your good works and deeds. Therefore, depart from me.”

These things, therefore, He will say, and the Lord says them now, to those who say they have the Holy Spirit within themselves, but that it is covered and veiled by the darkness of their passions and not even seen by the spiritual eyes of their soul. But to those who say they know Him, but confess they do not see the light of His divinity, He says these things: “If you had known me, you would have known me as light; for I am truly the light of the world.” But woe to those who say, “When will the day of the Lord come?”, and do not hasten to attain it. For the presence of the Lord has come to the faithful and is always coming and is at hand for all who desire it. For if He is the light of the world and told His apostles (313) that He would be with us until the end of the age, how, being with us, will He come? In no way. For we are not sons of darkness nor sons of night, that the light should overtake us, but sons of light and sons of the Lord's day; wherefore, both living we are in the Lord and dying in Him and with Him we shall live, as Paul says. For concerning this, Gregory the Theologian also speaks thus: “What the sun is to things of sense, God is to things of the spirit.” For He shall be both the age to come and the unwaning day and the kingdom of heaven, the bridal chamber and the bedchamber and the land of the meek and the divine paradise and king and servant, as He Himself has said thus: “Blessed are those servants whom their master, when he comes, will find watching; for truly I say to you that he will make them recline, and will gird himself and serve them.”

All these things, therefore, and many more than these, which it is not possible for anyone to number, Christ will become for those who believe in Him, not only in the age to come, but first in this life, and then afterward also in the age to come. And if here it is more dimly and there more perfectly, nevertheless the faithful already from here clearly see and receive the first-fruits of all the things there; for neither do they receive all the promises here; nor, hoping for everything there, do they remain, while here, bereft and without a taste of the good things to come. But since through death and the resurrection God ordained to give us the kingdom and incorruptibility and all eternal life, in soul we already from here undoubtedly become communicants and (314) partakers of the good things to come, such as incorruptible and immortal and sons of God and sons of light and sons of day and heirs of the

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τό νέφος τῶνπαθῶν μή βουλόμενος, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἐν βορβόρῳ, τῇ σῇ ῥυπαρᾷ καρδίᾳ, τόν ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν κατελθόντα διά τήν σωτηρίαν τήν σήν παρορᾷς κείμενον.

∆ιά τοῦτο τοίνυν τάδε λέγει τό φῶς· «Ἐκ τοῦ στόματός σου κρινῶ σέ, πονηρέ δοῦλε, ὅτι ἐλθόντα με, ὡς σύ λέγεις, καί ἐνοικήσαντα ἐν σοί τόν ταῖς ἄνω ἀπρόσιτον τάξεσι, τοῦτο γινώσκων αὐτός, ἔασας μέ ὑπό τό σκότος κεῖσθαι κεχωρισμένον τῶν σῶν κακῶν, καθά δή τοῦτο λέγεις αὐτός· καί ἐπί τοσούτους χρόνους ἐγκαρτερήσαντός μου (312) καί τήν μετάνοιάν σου ἐκδεχομένου καί τήν ἐργασίαν τῶν ἐντολῶν μου προσαναμένοντος, οὐκ ἠβουλήθης μέχρι τέλους κἄν ποσῶς ἐκζητῆσαί με, οὐδέ συμπνιγόμενον καί στεναχωρούμενον ἐν σοί ὤκτειρας, οὐδέ εὑρεῖν με τήν δραχμήν ἥν ἀπώλεσα, σέ, ἔασας δά τό μή ἐαθῆναί με ἀναφθῆναι καί θεάσασθαί σε καί ὑπό σοῦ θεαθῆναι, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπό τῶν ἐν σοί παθῶν ἀεί συγκαλύπτεσθαι. Ἄπελθε τοιγαροῦν ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ, ἐργάτα τῆς ἀνομίας, εἰς τό πῦρ τό αἰώνιον τό ἡτοιμασμένον τῷ διαβόλῳ καί τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ, ἐπειδή τήν σήν ἐπιστροφήν καί μετάνοιαν ἐπείνασα, καί οὐκ ἔδωκάς μοι φαγεῖν· ἐδίψησα τήν σωτηρίαν σου, καί οὐκ ἔδωκάς μοι πιεῖν· γυμνός ἤμην τῶν σῶν ἐναρέτων πράξεων, καί οὐκ ἐνέδυσάς με αὐτάς· ἐν φυλακῇ στενωτάτῃ καί ῥυπώσῃ καί σκοτεινῇ τῆς σῆς καρδίας ὑπῆρχον, καί ἐπισκέψασθαι ἤ εἰς φῶς ἐξαγαγεῖν με οὐκ ἠβουλήθης· ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τῆς σῆς ῥᾳθυμίας καί ἀπραξίας κατακείμενόν με ἐγίνωσκες, καί οὐ διηκόνησάς μοι διά τῶν ἀγαθῶν σου ἔργων καί πράξεων. Λοιπόν ἄπελθε ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ».

Ταῦτα τοιγαροῦν ἐρεῖ, καί νῦν ὁ Κύριος λέγει, πρός τούς λέγοντας ἐν ἑαυτόῖς μέν ἔχειν τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἁγιον, ὑπό δέ τοῦ σκότους τῶν παθῶν αὐτῶν καλυπτόμενόν τε καί σκεπαζόμενον καί μηδέ ὁρώμενον τοῖς νοεροῖς τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτῶν ὀφθαλμοῖς. Πρός δέ γε τούς λέγοντας μέν γινώσκειν αὐτόν, ὁμολογοῦντας δέ μή βλέπειν τό τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ φῶς, ταῦτά φησιν· «Εἰ ἐγνώκειτέ με, ὡς φῶς με ἐγνώκειτε ἄν· φῶς γάρ ὄντως ἐγώ τοῦ κόσμου εἰμί». Ἀλλ᾿ οὐαί οἱ λέγοντες· «Πότε ἡ ἡμέρα Κυρίου ἐλεύσεται;», καί ταύτην καταλαβεῖν μή σπουδάζοντες. Ἡ γάρ παρουσία τοῦ Κυρίου εἰς τούς πιστούς γέγονε καί ἀεί γίνεται καί εἰς πάντας τούς βουλομένους ἐφέστηκεν. Εἰ γάρ ἐκεῖνος τό φῶς τοῦ κόσμου ἐστί καί τοῖς αὐτοῦ ἀποστόλοις (313) εἶπε μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν ἕως τῆς συντελείας συνέσεσθαι, πῶς, μεθ᾿ ἡμῶν ὤν, ἐλεύσεται; Οὐδαμῶς. Οὐ γάρ ἐσμέν υἱοί σκότους καί υἱοί νυκτός, ἵνα τό φῶς ἡμᾶς καταλάβῃ, ἀλλ᾿ υἱοί φωτός καί υἱοί τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμέρας ὅθεν καί ζῶντες ἐν τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐσμέν καί ἀποθνῄσκοντες ἐν αὐτῷ καί σύν αὐτῷ ζήσομεν, καθώς ὁ Παῦλός φησι. Περί τούτου γάρ καί ὁ θεολόγος οὕτως λέγει Γρηγόριος· «Ὅπερ ἐστί τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ἥλιος, τοῦτο τοῖς νοητοῖς Θεός». Οὗτος γάρ ἔσται καί ὁ μέλλων αἰών καί ἡ ἀνέσπερος ἡμέρα καί βασιλεία οὐρανῶν, νυμφών καί παστάς καί γῆ πραέων καί θεῖος παράδεισος καί βασιλεύς καί διάκονος, καθώς αὐτός οὕτως εἴρηκε· «Μακάριοι οἱ δοῦλοι ἐκεῖνοι, οὕς ἐλθών ὁ κύριος αὐτῶν εὑρήσει γρηγοροῦντας· ἀμήν γάρ λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ἀνακλινεῖ αὐτούς καί περιζωσάμενος διακονήσει αὐτοῖς».

Ταῦτα οὖν πάντα καί τούτων ἕτερα πλείονα, ἅ οὐκ ἐξόν τινι ἀριθμήσασθαι, τοῖς αὐτῷ πιστεύουσι γενήσεται ὁ Χριστός οὐκ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι μόνον αἰῶνι, ἀλλά πρῶτον ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ, εἶθ᾿ ὕστερον καί ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τῷ μέλλοντι. Εἰ καί ἐνταῦθα μέν ἀμυδρότερον κἀκεῖ τελεώτερον, πλήν ὅμως πάντων τῶν ἐκεῖ ἀπ᾿ ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη τάς ἀπαρχάς οἱ πιστοί βλέπουσι τρανῶς καί λαμβάνουσιν· οὔτε γάρ τάς ἐπαγγελίας ἁπάσας ἐνταῦθα ἀπολαμβάνουσιν· οὔτε, ἐκεῖ τό πᾶν ἐλπίζοντες, μένουσιν, ἐνταῦθα ὄντες, τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν ἄμοιροί τε καί ἄγευστοι. Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπείπερ διά θανάτου καί τῆς ἀναστάσεως τήν βασιλείαν ἡμῖν ὁ Θεός καί τήν ἀφθαρσίαν καί πᾶσαν τήν αἰώνιον ζωήν δοῦναι ᾠκονομήσατο, ψυχικῶς μέν ἀπ᾿ ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη κοινωνοί καί (314) μέτοχοι τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν ἀναμφιβόλως γινόμεθα, οἷον ἄφθαρτοι καί ἀθάνατοι καί υἱοί Θεοῦ καί υἱοί φωτός καί υἱοί ἡμέρας καί κληρονόμοι τῆς