140

we examine, from where and how much and from whom, and how they received the money; so indeed God also demands an accounting for both expenditure and acquisition, from both rich and poor; from the rich man, whether he gathered his wealth from just resources, or from robbery and avarice; whether he spent the money on fornication, or on the poor; whether on luxury and debauchery and drunkenness, or on help for those who are mistreated; from the poor man, if he bore his poverty nobly and with thanksgiving, if he did not despair, if he did not become discontented, if he did not accuse the providence of God, seeing himself existing in want, but another living in luxury, and not lacking in substance. Not only the rich and the poor, but also rulers and judges are examined with great strictness, whether they perverted justice, whether they voted for or against those on trial out of favor or hatred, whether being flattered they gave their vote contrary to what was right. For by as much as each one has ascended to a greater mass of authority, by so much will a greater account be required of him. And the unseemly pleasures of life differ in no way from shadows and dreams; for before the acts of sin are completed, the things of pleasure are extinguished; but the punishments for these things have no end; and what is sweet is for a little while, but what is grievous is eternal. For this reason, God continually discourses to us about Gehenna, so that we might reap much from the threat and the fear. For if, when He was about to cast the sinners into it, He had not spoken of this threat, many would have fallen into it. For if now, when fear shakes our souls, there are some who sin so easily, as if it did not even exist; if none of these things had been said or threatened, what terrible thing would we not have done? So the matter is not one of harshness, but rather of mercy and love for mankind. For indeed, if destruction had not been threatened in the time of Jonah, the destruction would not have been prevented; if He had not said that Nineveh would be overthrown, Nineveh would not have stood; and if Gehenna had not been threatened, we would all have fallen into Gehenna. For if God cares nothing for whether we sin or do right, perhaps it has some reason to say that there is no punishment; but if He shows so much zeal that we not sin, and so much diligence that we should keep 63.747 the commandments, it is clear that He both punishes those who sin and crowns those who do right. But consider for me the inconsistency of the many. For here they blame God, because He is often long-suffering and overlooks many who are defiled, licentious, greedy, not bringing them to justice; there again, if He threatens to punish them, they are vehement and severe in their accusations. And yet, if this grieves them, they ought to have accepted and admired that; but, O the foolishness, O the sin-loving and pleasure-loving soul, that scorning the threat from words, they will undergo the punishment from deeds. For no one who has not resolved their sins here, will be able to escape the reckoning for them after departing there; but just as those from these prisons are brought before the court with their chains, so also those departing from here, bound with the various chains of their sins, are led to the dreadful tribunal. If ever, therefore, you are in a bathhouse, prepared more intensely than necessary, then think of the fire of Gehenna for me; and if ever again you are consumed by a severe fever, turn your mind to that flame, and then you will be able to rise up well. For if a bathhouse and a fever so disturb and afflict us, when we fall into that river of fire, which is drawn before the fearful tribunal, how then shall we be disposed? And he who departs there with many works, both good and evil, will have some consolation in that punishment and those torments; but he who is destitute of the former, and brings only the latter, it is not even possible to say how much he will suffer, being sent to immortal punishment. For there will be a weighing there of the evil deeds and of those that are not such; and if the latter draw down the scale, they have saved their worker in no small way; and so much

140

ἐξετάζομεν, πόθεν καὶ πόσα καὶ παρὰ τίνων, καὶ πῶς ὑπεδέξαντο τὰ χρήματα· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς καὶ τῆς δαπάνης καὶ τῆς κτήσεως ἀπαιτεῖ τὰς εὐθύνας, καὶ πλουσίῳ καὶ πένητι· τῷ μὲν πλουσίῳ, πότερον ἐκ δικαίων πόρων, ἢ ἐξ ἁρπαγῆς καὶ πλεονεξίας τὸν πλοῦτον συνέλεξε· πότερον εἰς πορνείας, ἢ εἰς πένητας τὰ χρήματα κατηνάλωσε· πότερον εἰς τρυφὴν καὶ ἀσωτίαν καὶ μέθην, ἢ εἰς τὴν τῶν ἐπηρεαζομένων βοήθειαν· τῷ δὲ πένητι, εἰ γενναίως καὶ εὐχαρίστως τὴν πενίαν ἤνεγκεν, εἰ μὴ ἀπεδυσπέτησεν, εἰ μὴ ἐδυσχέρανεν, εἰ μὴ κατηγόρησε τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίας, ἑαυτὸν μὲν ἐν ἐνδείᾳ ὑπάρχοντα ὁρῶν, ἕτερον δὲ τρυφῶντα, καὶ μὴ κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν σπανίζοντα. Οὐ πλούσιοι δὲ καὶ πένητες μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄρχοντες καὶ δικασταὶ μετὰ πολλῆς ἐξετάζονται τῆς ἀκριβείας, εἰ διέφθειραν τὸ δίκαιον, εἰ πρὸς χάριν ἢ πρὸς ἀπέχθειαν ἐψηφίσαντο τοῖς δικαζομένοις, εἰ κολακευθέντες ἔδωκαν παρὰ τὸ δέον τὴν ψῆφον. Ὅσῳ γὰρ ἕκαστος πρὸς μείζονα ὄγκον ἀρχῆς ἀναβέβηκε, τοσούτῳ καὶ πλείονα ἀπαιτηθήσεται λόγον. Καὶ αἱ μὲν ἄτοποι τοῦ βίου ἡδοναὶ τῶν σκιῶν καὶ ὀνειράτων διαφέρουσιν οὐδέν· πρὶν ἢ γὰρ τελεσθῆναι τὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, σβέννυται τὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς· αἱ δὲ ὑπὲρ τούτων κολάσεις πέρας οὐκ ἔχουσι· καὶ τὸ μὲν ἡδὺ πρὸς ὀλίγον, τὸ δὲ ἀνιαρὸν αἰώνιον. ∆ιὰ δὴ τοῦτο περὶ γεέννης συνεχῶς ἡμῖν ὁ Θεὸς διαλέγεται, ἵνα πολύ τι καρπωσώμεθα ἀπὸ τῆς ἀπειλῆς καὶ τοῦ φόβου. Εἰ γὰρ μέλλων ἐμβάλλειν εἰς αὐτὴν τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας, μὴ προσεῖπε, ταύτης τὴν ἀπειλὴν, πολλοὶ ἐνέπεσον ἂν εἰς αὐτήν. Εἰ γὰρ νῦν τοῦ φόβου κατασείοντος ἡμῶν τὰς ψυχὰς, εἰσί τινες οἱ οὕτω ῥᾳδίως ἁμαρτάνοντες, ὡς οὐδὲ οὔσης αὐτῆς· εἰ μηδὲν τούτων εἴρητο μηδὲ ἠπείλητο, τί οὐκ ἂν εἰργασάμεθα δεινόν; Ὥστε οὐκ ἀπηνείας τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἀλλ' ἐλέου μᾶλλον καὶ φιλανθρωπίας ἐστί. Καὶ γὰρ, εἰ μὴ ἠπειλήθη καταστροφὴ ἐπὶ Ἰωνᾶ, οὐκ ἂν ἐκωλύθη ἡ καταστροφή· εἰ μὴ εἶπεν ὅτι καταστραφήσεται Νινευὶ, οὐκ ἂν ἔστη Νινευί· καὶ εἰ μὴ ἠπειλήθη γέεννα, ἅπαντες ἂν εἰς γέενναν ἐνεπέσομεν. Εἰ γὰρ μηδὲν μέλει τῷ Θεῷ μήτε ἁμαρτανόντων ἡμῶν μήτε κατορθούντων, ἴσως ἔχει τινὰ λόγον τὸ λέγειν μὴ εἶναι κόλασιν· εἰ δὲ τοσαύτην σπουδὴν ποιεῖται, ὥστε μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν ἡμᾶς, καὶ τοσαῦτα πραγματεύεται, ὥστε κατορθοῦν 63.747 ἡμᾶς τὰς ἐντολὰς, εὔδηλον ὅτι καὶ ἁμαρτάνοντας κολάζει, καὶ κατορθοῦντας στεφανοῖ. Ἀλλὰ σκόπει μοι τῶν πολλῶν τὴν ἀνωμαλίαν. Ἐνταῦθα μὲν γὰρ ἐγκαλοῦσι τῷ Θεῷ, ὅτι μακροθυμεῖ πολλάκις καὶ περιορᾷ πολλοὺς μιαροὺς, ἀσελγεῖς, πλεονέκτας, μὴ διδόντας δίκην· ἐκεῖ πάλιν ἐὰν ἀπειλήσῃ κολάζειν αὐτοὺς, σφοδροὶ καὶ βαρεῖς εἰσιν αἰτιώμενοι. Καίτοι γε εἰ τοῦτο λυπεῖ, ἐκεῖνο ἀποδέχεσθαι καὶ θαυμάζειν ἐχρῆν· ἀλλ', ὢ τῆς ἀνοίας, ὢ τῆς φιλαμαρτήμονος καὶ φιληδόνου ψυχῆς, ὅτι τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ῥημάτων καταφρονοῦντες ἀπειλῆς, τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων ὑποστήσονται κόλασιν. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ τῶν ἐνταῦθα μὴ διαλυσαμένων τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, ἀπελθὼν ἐκεῖ δυνήσεται τὰς ἐπὶ τούτοις εὐθύνας διαφυγεῖν· ἀλλ' ὥσπερ οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν δεσμωτηρίων τούτων μετὰ τῶν ἁλύσεων προσάγονται εἰς τὸ δικαστήριον, οὕτω καὶ οἱ ἐντεῦθεν ἀπερχόμενοι τὰς ποικίλας περικείμενοι σειρὰς τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, ἐπὶ τὸ βῆμα ἄγονται τὸ φρικτόν. Εἴ ποτε οὖν ἐν βαλανείῳ γένοιο, σφοδρότερον κατεσκευασμένῳ τοῦ δέοντος, τότε μοι τὸ τῆς γεέννης ἐννόησον πῦρ· καὶ εἴ ποτε πάλιν ὑπὸ πυρετοῦ καταφλεχθείης χαλεποῦ, πρὸς ἐκείνην τὸν νοῦν τὴν φλόγα μετάστησον, καὶ τότε δυνήσῃ διαναστῆναι καλῶς. Εἰ γὰρ βαλανεῖον καὶ πυρετὸς οὕτως ἡμᾶς θορυβεῖ καὶ θλίβει, ὅταν εἰς τὸν ποταμὸν τοῦ πυρὸς ἐμπέσωμεν ἐκεῖνον, τὸν ἑλκόμενον πρὸ τοῦ βήματος τοῦ φοβεροῦ, πῶς διακεισόμεθα ἄρα; Καὶ ὁ μὲν μετὰ πολλῶν ἔργων καὶ ἀγαθῶν καὶ πονηρῶν ἀπερχόμενος ἐκεῖ, ἕξει τινὰ παραμυθίαν ἐπὶ τῇ κολάσει καὶ τοῖς βασανιστηρίοις ἐκείνοις· ὁ δὲ τούτων μὲν ἔρημος, ἐκεῖνα δὲ μόνα ἐπάγων, οὐδὲ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ὅσα πείσεται πρὸς τὴν ἀθάνατον παραπεμπόμενος κόλασιν. Καὶ γὰρ ἀντίστασις ἔσται ἐκεῖ τῶν πονηρῶν πράξεων καὶ τῶν οὐ τοιούτων· κἂν μὲν αὗται καθελκύσωσι τὸν ζυγὸν, ἔσωσαν οὐ μικρῶς τὸν ἐργάτην τὸν ἑαυτῶν· καὶ τοσοῦτον