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armed men; Let no one hope in the swiftness of his feet, as being able to escape the day of shattering, in which they come to destroy the whole inhabited world. 13.263 For every soul of man will be afraid. “Of man” is well added; for neither is the soul of Angels subject to cowardice (because it is superior to this passion), nor that of irrational animals. For cowardice does not affect irrational animals, being a passion of the rational part, and a lack of the doctrines of courage. For irrational animals are subject to terror; but rational beings, whenever they are terrified by things not worthy of fear, because reason (which produces fortitude in the soul against terrible things) fails in them, they are seized by the passion of cowardice. And a long time has passed since the day of the Lord is said to be near, with all the Prophets testifying to its nearness, so that no one, having grown careless because it is delayed, might be caught unprepared. These things Zephaniah also testifies, saying, “Be cautious before the face of the fear of the Lord, because the day of the Lord is near.” And a little later: “The great day of the Lord is near; it is near and very swift. The voice of the day of the Lord is bitter and hard; that day is a day of tribulation and distress, a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and of shouting.” And even if the common day of the consummation of the whole world is far off, yet each one's own day of departure (which is the consummation for each individual) is near at hand; keeping this before our eyes, we must observe what is said by Isaiah: “Wail; for the day of the Lord is near;” and obey the one who says: “Blessed are those who mourn” and “Blessed are those who weep.” Many, being distressed by the affairs of life, hasten their own departure and call upon death; to whom it is well to say what is from Amos: “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! It is darkness, and not light.” “As if a man should flee from a lion, and a bear meet him; or go into the house and lean his hand on the wall, and a serpent bite him.” “Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Even deep darkness, with no brightness in it?” If anyone, then, has not built upon the foundation of his own life wood, or hay, or straw, let him desire the day of the Lord, in which the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. But if no one is clean from forbidden works, let him fear that day. For “if anyone's work,” he says, “which he has built on it, endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss;” “but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” 13.264 The ambassadors will be troubled, and pangs will seize them, as of a woman in labor. And they will lament one to another, and will be astonished; and they will change their countenance as a flame. Who are the ambassadors who are troubled, when the day of the Lord comes upon them? Or clearly those to whom the Lord alludes through parables, which He spoke when He was near Jerusalem to those who thought that the kingdom of the Lord was about to appear. For “a certain nobleman,” he says, “went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.” Then, having spoken about the ten minas which he gave to the ten servants to do business, he added: “But his citizens hated him, and sent an embassy after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'” A nobleman, then, is a man who has communion of race with no other than the God over all. For as we call those of royal blood noble, so truly noble is He who has His existence from the substance of the Father. And the man according to the Savior might be called noble. For not only is the Lord understood as noble according to His divinity, possessing in Himself what is pure and sincere and unmixed by nature; but also certainly according to His humanity, a descendant from the seed of David according to the flesh. He goes, therefore, into a far country, not so much distant in place, as in the state of affairs. For the same

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ὁπλομάχους· μηδεὶς ἐπελπι ζέτω ταχύτητι ποδῶν, ὡς ἀποδρᾶναι δυνάμενος τὴν ἡμέραν τῆς συντριβῆς, ἐν ᾗ ἔρχονται καταφθεῖραι πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκου μένην. 13.263 Πᾶσα γὰρ ψυχὴ ἀνθρώπου δειλιάσει. Καλῶς πρόσκειται τὸ Ἀνθρώπου· οὔτε γὰρ Ἀγγέλων ψυχὴ δειλίᾳ ὑπόκειται (διὰ τὸ ἀνωτέραν εἶναι τοῦ πάθους τούτου) οὔτε δὲ ἡ τῶν ἀλόγων. Οὐ γὰρ ἅπτεται ἡ δειλία τῶν ἀλόγων, πάθος οὖσα τοῦ λογιστικοῦ, καὶ ἔλλειψις τῶν τῆς ἀνδρείας δογμάτων. Πτοήσει μὲν γὰρ ὑπόκειται τὰ ἄλογα· οἱ δὲ λογικοὶ, ἐπειδὰν τὰ μὴ ἄξια φόβου καταπλαγῶσι, τῷ ἐκλείπειν ἐν αὐτοῖς τὸν λόγον (τὸν τὴν εὐτονίαν τῇ ψυχῇ ἐμποιοῦντα πρὸς τὰ δεινὰ) τῷ πάθει τῆς δειλίας ἁλίσκονται. Πολὺς δὲ ὁ χρόνος, ἀφ' οὗ ἡ ἡμέρα Κυρίου ἐγγίζειν λέγεται, πάντων τῶν Προφητῶν διαμαρτυρουμένων αὐτῆς τὴν ἐγγύ τητα, ἵνα μηδεὶς ἀναπεπτωκὼς, ὡς χρονιζούσης αὐτῆς, ἀνέτοιμος καταληφθῇ. Ταῦτα καὶ ὁ Σοφονίας διαμαρτύρεται, Εὐλαβεῖσθε (λέγων) ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ φόβου Κυρίου, διότι ἐγγὺς ἡ ἡμέρα Κυρίου. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· Ἐγγὺς ἡ ἡμέρα Κυ ρίου, ἡ μεγάλη· ἐγγὺς καὶ καὶ ταχεῖα σφόδρα. Φωνὴ ἡμέρας Κυρίου πικρὰ καὶ σκληρά· ἡ ἡμέρα ἐκείνη, ἡμέρα θλίψεως καὶ ἀνάγκης, ἡμέρα ἀωρίας καὶ ἀφανισμοῦ, ἡμέρα σκότους καὶ γνόφου, ἡμέρα νεφέλης καὶ ὁμίχλης, ἡμέρα σάλπιγγος καὶ κραυγῆς. Κἂν ἡ κοινὴ δὲ ἡμέρα τῆς τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου συντελείας μακρὰν ᾖ, ἀλλ' ἡ ἰδία ἑκάστου τῆς ἐξόδου (ἥτις ἐστὶ τοῦ καθ' ἕνα ἀνθρώπου συντέλεια) ἐγγὺς πάρεστιν· ἣν χρὴ πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔχοντας, τηρεῖν τὸ παρὰ τοῦ Ἡσαΐου λεγόμενον· Ὀλολύξατε· ἐγγὺς γὰρ ἡ ἡμέρα Κυρίου· καὶ πείθεσθε τῷ λέγοντι· Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες καὶ Μακάριοι οἱ κλαίοντες. Πολλοὶ πρὸς τὰ τοῦ βίου δυσχεραίνοντες πράγματα, ἐπείγουσιν ἑαυτῶν τὴν ἔξοδον καὶ ἐπικαλοῦνται τὸν θάνατον· πρὸς οὓς καλῶς ἔχει τὸ τοῦ Ἀμὼς λέγειν· Οὐαὶ οἱ ἐπιθυ μοῦντες τὴν ἡμέραν Κυρίου· καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶ σκότος, καὶ οὐ φῶς. Ὃν τρόπον ἄν τις ἐκφύγῃ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ λέοντος, καὶ ἐμπέσῃ αὐτῷ ἡ ἄρκτος· καὶ εἰσπηδήσῃ εἰς τὸν οἶκον καὶ ἀπερείσῃ τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν τοῖχον, καὶ δάκῃ αὐτὸν ὁ ὄφις. Οὐχὶ σκότος ἡ ἡμέρα Κυρίου καὶ οὐ φῶς, καὶ γνόφος οὐκ ἔχων φέγγος; Εἴ τις οὖν μὴ ἐπῳκοδό μησε τῇ οἰκοδομῇ τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ βίου ξύλα, ἢ χόρτον, ἢ καλά μην, ἐπιθυμείτω τὴν ἡμέραν Κυρίου, ἐν ᾗ ἑκάστου τὸ ἔργον ὁποῖόν ἐστι τὸ πῦρ δοκιμάσει. Εἰ δὲ οὐδεὶς καθαρὸς ἀπὸ ἔργων τῶν ἀπηγορευμένων, φοβείσθω τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην. Εἴ τινος γὰρ (φησὶ) τὸ ἔργον μένει, ὃ ἐποικοδόμησεν, μισθὸν λήψεται· εἴ τινος τὸ ἔργον κατακαήσεται, ζημιωθήσεται. Αὐτὸς δὲ σωθήσεται, οὕτω δὲ ὡς διὰ πυρός. 13.264 Ταραχθήσονται οἱ πρέσβεις, καὶ ὠδῖνες αὐτοὺς ἕξου σιν, ὡς γυναικὸς τικτούσης. Καὶ συμφοράσουσιν ἕτερος πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον, καὶ ἐκστήσονται· καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτῶν ὡς φλὸξ μεταβαλοῦσι. Τίνες οἱ πρέσβεις ταρασσόμενοι, ἡνίκα ἂν συνεπιστῇ ἡ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμέρα; Ἢ δηλονότι ἐκεῖνοι, οὓς ὁ Κύριος διὰ παραβολῶν αἰνίσσεται, ἣν εἶπεν ἐγγὺς γενόμενος τῆς Ἱερου σαλὴμ πρὸς τοὺς δοκοῦντας, ὅτι μέλλει ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Κυ ρίου ἀναφαίνεσθαι. Ἄνθρωπος γὰρ (φησὶν) εὐγενὴς ἐπορεύθη εἰς χώραν μακρὰν, λαβεῖν ἑαυτῷ βασιλείαν καὶ ὑποστρέψαι. Εἶτα εἰπὼν περὶ τῶν δέκα μνῶν, ἃς ἔδωκε τοῖς δέκα δούλοις εἰς τὸ πραγματεύσεσθαι, ἐπήγαγεν· Οἱ δὲ πολῖται αὐτοῦ ἐμί σουν αὐτὸν, καὶ ἔπεμψαν ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ πρέσβεις, λέγοντες, ὅτι Οὐ θέλομεν τοῦτον βασιλεῦσαι ἐφ' ἡμᾶς. Εὐγενὴς μὲν οὖν ἄνθρωπος, ὁ πρὸς οὐδένα ἄλλον τὴν κοινωνίαν τοῦ γένους, ἢ πρὸς τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων Θεὸν κεκτημένος. Ὡς γὰρ εὐγενεῖς λέ γομεν τοὺς ἀπὸ αἵματος βασιλικοῦ, οὕτως ἀληθινῶς εὐγενὴς, ὁ ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ Πατρὸς τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἔχων. Καὶ ὁ κατὰ τὸν Σωτῆρα ἄνθρωπος εὐγενὴς ἂν λέγοιτο. Οὐ μόνον γὰρ κατὰ τὴν θεότητα νοούμενος ὁ Κύριος εὐγενὴς, τὸ καθαρὸν καὶ εἰλικρινὲς καὶ ἀμιγὲς τῇ φύσει ἐν ἑαυτῷ κεκτημένος· ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον πάντως, γένος ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αβὶδ κατὰ σάρκα. Πορεύεται οὖν εἰς χώραν μακρὰν, οὐ τοσοῦτον τῷ τόπῳ διεστῶσαν, ὅσον τῇ καταστάσει τῶν πραγμάτων. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ αὐτὸς