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and there is also what is prophesied in Isaiah: “And the light of Israel will be as a fire, and it will consume the wood like grass and it will consume from the soul to the flesh,” that is, from the worst opinion to base actions; for through the soul he alluded to the opinion, and through the flesh, the actions. 4.217 The chiliarchs who were set as a firebrand accomplish the same thing as the coal taken with tongs from the spiritual and heavenly altar by one of the Seraphim; which he brought to the mouth of the prophet and took away his iniquities and cleansed his lips. 4.218 It is time to say what things on the right and on the left the firebrand and the torch of fire consume. The self-evident acts of impiety and sins happen to be on the sinister and left-hand side; but the things that falsely put on the appearance of virtue are considered to be on the right. At any rate, forbidding both, the divine word says: “Make straight paths for your feet, and direct your ways. Do not turn to the right or to the left,” neither to excess nor to deficiency; for both are vices. 4.219 Since liberality—and this is a sociable disposition—is a virtue, stinginess is a deviation to the left, while prodigality is considered on the right, being a waste of money not for what is needed nor as is proper, but in pursuit of shameful pleasures. Since, therefore, both the stingy and the prodigal are reprehensible, the firebrand and the torch attack both. 4.220 It has been shown by us through many arguments that, since virtues are means, their deficiencies and excesses happen to be vices, in the discourse we wrote on the virtues. 4.221 The things said to be on the right and on the left, being found among almost all men, are said to be round about all the peoples. 4.222 When the peoples round about the holy city have received their punishment, then it will be inhabited by itself, guarded by the one who built and chose it, according to what was said about its security: “Mountains are round about it, and the Lord is round about his people.” Concerning such a guard, it is also stated in the present prophet that the almighty “Lord will be like a wall of fire” around it, which has been clarified at the beginning of Zechariah, when Jerusalem was inhabited by itself, those who had surrounded it in war having been put to flight, according to what was said by the one inhabiting it: “All the nations surrounded me, and in the name of the Lord I defended myself against them,” and what follows. 4.223 And what follows harmoniously upon the holy city being inhabited by itself, but that the Lord saves the tabernacles of Judah as in the beginning, which are none other than the particular virtues. Concerning these, the proverbial decree declares: “The tents of the upright will stand.” Concerning their inherent loveliness, the hymnist sings, saying: “How lovely are your tabernacles, Lord of hosts.” For how are they not desirable, being full of those who celebrate? For the voice of exultation and confession of the sound of those celebrating is sung not elsewhere but in the tents of the just. 4.224 But the Lord saves the tabernacles of Judah as in the beginning, before vice and impiety prevailed among men. It is possible to say that the bodies we are clothed with are tabernacles being saved as from the beginning. And salvation will come when our corruptible, dishonored, and weak body puts on incorruptibility, glory, and power, becoming a spiritual body from a natural body. Since in many places progress has been rendered as tabernacles—for these are the houses of those on a journey—these are saved by God as from the beginning, as the perfect state and virtue come into being. 4.225 The aforementioned good things will exist from God, so that with each of the saved boasting in the Lord, no one being any longer cast upon himself but upon the cause of perfect goods, the boast of the house of David may no longer be magnified, nor the pride of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as all sing psalms: “It is good to trust in the Lord rather than to trust in man; it is good

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ὑπάρχει καὶ τὸ ἐν Ἠσαΐᾳ θεσπιζόμενον· «Καὶ ἔσται τὸ φῶς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ὡς πῦρ, καὶ καταφάγεται ὡσεὶ χόρτον τὴν ὕλην καὶ καταφάγεται ἀπὸ ψυχῆς ἕως σαρκῶν», τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἀπὸ γνώμης χειρίστης ἕως πράξεων φαύλων· διὰ γὰρ τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν γνώμην, διὰ δὲ τῶν σαρκῶν τὰς πράξεις ᾐνίξατο. 4.217 Οἱ τεθέντες ὡς δαλὸς πυρὸς χιλίαρχοι ἐκτελοῦσι τὸ αὐτὸ τῷ ληφθέντι ἄνθρακι ἐκ τοῦ πνευματικοῦ καὶ ἐπουρανίου θυσιαστηρίου λαβίδι ὑπὸ ἑνὸς τῶν Σαραφί· ὃν προσαγαγὼν τῷ στόματι τοῦ προφήτου ἀφεῖλεν αὐτοῦ τὰς ἀνομίας καὶ τὰ χείλη αὐτοῦ ἐκαθάρισεν. 4.218 Τίνα δὲ ἀναλίσκουσιν ὁ δαλὸς καὶ ἡ λαμπὰς τοῦ πυρὸς δεξιὰ καὶ εὐώνυμα, καιρὸς εἰπεῖν. Τὰ αὐτόθεν γνώριμα τῶν ἀσεβημάτων καὶ ἁμαρτημάτων σκαιὰ καὶ εὐώνυμα τυγχάνει· τὰ δ' ὑποδυόμενα ψευδῶς τὴν ἀρετὴν δεξιὰ εἶναι νομίζονται. Ἀμφότερα γοῦν ἀπαγορεύων, ὁ θεῖος λόγος φησίν· «Ὀρθὰς τροχιὰς ποίει σοῖς ποσίν, καὶ τὰς ὁδούς σου κατεύθυνε. Μὴ ἐκκλίνῃς εἰς τὰ δεξιὰ ἢ εἰς τὰ ἀριστερά», μηδὲ εἰς τὰς ὑπερβολὰς μηδὲ ἐλλείψεις· ἀμφότεραι γάρ εἰσι κακίαι. 4.219 Τῆς ἐλευθεριότητος-αὕτη δ' ἐστὶν ἡ κοινωνικὴ προαίρεσις-ἐναρέτου οὔσης, εὐώνυμος ἔκκλισίς ἐστιν ἡ φειδωλία, δεξιᾶς νομιζομένης τῆς ἀσωτίας ἀναλωτικῆς οὔσης χρημάτων οὐκ ἐφ' οἷς δεῖ καὶ ὡς χρή, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ θήρᾳ ἡδονῶν αἰσχρῶν. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν καὶ ὁ φειδωλὸς καὶ ἄσωτος ἐπιτιμητέοι τυγχάνουσιν, ἀμφοτέρων καθάπτεται ὁ δαλὸς τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ ἡ λαμπάς. 4.220 ∆ιὰ πλειόνων ἡμῖν ἀποδέδεικται ὡς, μεσοτήτων οὐσῶν τῶν ἀρετῶν, αἱ ἐλλείψεις καὶ ὑπερβολαὶ αὐτῶν κακίαι τυγχάνουσιν, ἐν ᾧ ἐπεγράψαμεν περὶ ἀρετῶν λόγῳ. 4.221 Τὰ λεχθέντα δεξιὰ καὶ ἀριστερὰ σχεδὸν περὶ πάντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εὑρισκόμενα κύκλῳ πάντων τῶν λαῶν εἶναι εἴρηνται. 4.222 Ὅταν τιμωρίας ἀπολαύσωσιν οἱ κύκλῳ τῆς ἁγίας πόλεως λαοί, τὸ τηνικάδε καθ' ἑαυτὴν κατοικηθήσεται, φρουρουμένη ὑπὸ τοῦ οἰκοδομήσαντος καὶ ἐκλεξαμένου, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον περὶ τῆς ἀσφαλείας αὐτῆς· «Ὄρη κύκλῳ αὐτῆς, καὶ Κύριος κύκλῳ τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ.» Περὶ τῆς τοιαύτης φυλακῆς καὶ ἐν τῷ προκειμένῳ προφήτῃ φέρεται ὡς παντοκράτωρ «Κύριος ὡς τεῖχος πυρὸς» ἔσται περὶ αὐτήν, ὅπερ ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ Ζαχαρίου σεσαφήνισται, κατοικισθείσης τῆς Ἰερουσαλὴμ καθ' ἑαυτήν, φυγαδευθέντων τῶν πολεμικῶς κυκλωσάντων αὐτήν, κατὰ τὸ λεχθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ οἰκοῦντος αὐτήν· «Πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐκύκλωσάν με, καὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Κυρίου ἠμυνάμην αὐτούς», καὶ τὰ ἑπόμενα. 4.223 Τί δὲ ἁρμονίως ἐπιφέρεται τῷ καθ' ἑαυτὴν κατοικεῖσθαι τὴν ἱερὰν πόλιν ἢ τὸ σῶσαι Κύριον τὰ σκηνώματα τοῦ Ἰούδα ὡς ἐν ἀρχῇ, οὐκ ἄλλα ὄντα τῶν εἰδικῶν ἀρετῶν. Περὶ τούτων τὸ παροιμιῶδες θέσπισμα διαγορεύει· «Σκηναὶ κατορθούντων στήσονται.» Περὶ τοῦ προσόντος αὐτοῖς ἐρασμίου, ὁ ὑμνῳδὸς μελῳδεῖ φάσκων· «Ὡς ἀγαπητὰ τὰ σκηνώματά σου, Κύριε τῶν δυνάμεων.» Πῶς γὰρ οὐ ποθητὰ ἑορταζόντων ὄντα πλήρης; Φωνὴ γὰρ ἀγαλλιάσεως καὶ ἐξομολογήσεως ἤχου ἑορταζόντων οὐχ ἑτέρωθι ᾄδεται ἀλλ' ἐν ταῖς τῶν δικαίων σκηναῖς. 4.224 Σῴζει δὲ τὰ σκηνώματα τοῦ Ἰούδα ὁ Κύριος ὡς ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὶν κρατήσῃ κακία καὶ δυσσέβεια τῶν ἀνθρώπων. ∆υνατὸν σῳζόμενα ὡς ἀπ' ἀρχῆς σκηνώματα εἰπεῖν ἃ περικείμεθα σώματα. Γενήσεται δὲ ἡ σωτηρία ὅταν τὸ φθαρτὸν ἡμῶν σῶμα τὸ ἄτιμον καὶ ἀσθενὲς ἐνδύσηται τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν δόξαν τε καὶ δύναμιν, ἐκ ψυχικοῦ σώματος πνευματικὸν σῶμα γινόμενον. Πολλαχοῦ ἀποδοθέντων σκηνώματα εἶναι τὰς προκοπάς, -ὁδευόντων γὰρ οἰκίαι ταῦτα, -σῴζεται ταῦτα θεόθεν ὡς ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, τῆς τελείας καταστάσεως καὶ ἀρετῆς ἐπιγινομένης. 4.225 Ὑπάρξεται τὰ εἰρημένα θεόθεν ἀγαθά, ἵν' ἐν Κυρίῳ καυχωμένου ἑκάστου τῶν σῳζομένων, οὐδενὸς ἔτι ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ βαλλομένου ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τῷ τῶν τελείων ἀγαθῶν αἰτίῳ, τὸ καύχημα τοῦ οἴκου ∆αυὶδ μηκέτι μεγαλύνηται μηδὲ τῶν κατοικούντων Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἡ ἔπαρσις, πάντων ψαλλόντων· «Ἀγαθὸν πεποιθέναι ἐπὶ Κύριον ἢ πεποιθέναι ἐπ' ἄνθρωπον· ἀγαθὸν