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to be taught". And I say that now and then are not (373) at all equal, but that the present and the now are much greater and more easily lead us to greater faith and assurance than to have then physically seen and heard Him. For then He appeared to the ungrateful Jews as an insignificant man, but now He is proclaimed to us as true God. Then He associated physically with tax collectors and sinners and ate with them, but now He sits at the right hand of God the Father, He who was never and nowhere separated from Him, and He is believed to nourish the whole world, and we say—and indeed we believe—that without Him nothing comes to be. Then He was despised even by the most humble, who said: “Is not this the son of Mary and of Joseph the carpenter?” but now He is worshipped by kings and rulers as the Son of the true God and true God, and He has glorified and glorifies those who worship Him in spirit and truth, even if He often disciplines them when they sin—having made them iron instead of earthenware, above all the nations under heaven. Then He was considered corruptible and mortal like other men, and it was a great thing to recognize in a human body, unchangeably and immutably, the formless and invisible one, God made form and seen as a whole man, having nothing more in visible things than other men, but eating and drinking and sleeping, sweating and growing weary and doing (374) all human things except sin, and to believe such a one to be God, who made heaven itself and the earth and all things in them.

For this reason, when Peter said: “You are the Son of the living God,” the Lord blessed him, saying: “Blessed are you, Simon bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you—that is, to see and say these things—but my Father who is in heaven.” Therefore, one who now hears Him crying out daily through the holy Gospels and proclaiming the will of His blessed Father, and does not obey Him with fear and trembling and keep the things commanded by Him, would not have endured to believe in Him at all even then, if he had been present and seen Him and heard Him teaching; for fear that, disbelieving entirely, considering Him an adversary of God and not true God, he might have blasphemed.

And these things are for those who are in every way duller than others. But what of those more reverent than these? "If we were," he says, "in the times of the holy fathers, we too would have struggled. For seeing their good conduct and their struggles, we would have emulated them. But now, associating with the slothful and the negligent, we are led astray with them and are unwillingly destroyed with them," being ignorant, as is likely, they too, that we are in a greater haven than they were. In the times of our fathers—let these people also hear!—many heresies existed, many false christs, many who made a trade of Christ, many false apostles, there were many (375) false teachers, going about openly and sowing the tares of the evil one, and they snatched away many with their words, deceiving them, and delivered their souls to destruction.

And you will find this to be true from the lives of our holy father Euthymius and Antony. For it is written that Antony, having then put on a garment more splendid than his usual one and having gone up to a high place, revealed and showed himself, so that, having become visible, he might by all means be seized by the heretics and killed; if, therefore, there had been no persecution, he would not have done this. And at the birth of our holy father Euthymius, is it not written that joy was then bestowed upon the churches by God, the persecutions and the heresies having then clearly ceased? And at the death of our holy father Sabas, do you not hear how much he struggled on behalf of the churches and against the heresies of that time, and how many of the monks then to the

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ἐκδιδάσκεσθαι". Κἀγώ φημι μή εἶναι (373) πάντως ἴσον τό νῦν καί τό τότε, ἀλλά κατά πολύ τό ἄρτι καί τό νῦν μεῖζον καί εὐκόλως μᾶλλον πρός πίστιν πλείονα καί πληροφορίαν ἄγον ἡμᾶς ὑπέρ τό τότε σωματικῶς καί ἰδεῖν καί ἀκοῦσαι αὐτοῦ. Τότε μέν γάρ ἄνθρωπος τοῖς ἀγνώμοσιν Ἰουδαίοις ἐφαίνετο εὐτελής, νῦν δέ Θεός κηρύττεται ἡμῖν ἀληθής. Τότε τοῖς τελώναις καί τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς συνανεστρέφετο σωματικῶς καί συνήσθιε, νῦν δέ ἐκ δεξιῶν κάθηται τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός, ὁ μηδέποτε καί μηδαμοῦ χωρισθείς αὐτοῦ, καί τόν κόσμον ἅπαντα τρέφειν πιστεύεται, καί χωρίς αὐτοῦ οὐδέν γίνεσθαι λέγομεν - εἰ δέ καί πιστεύομεν . Τότε καί ὑπό τῶν εὐτελεστάτων κατεφρονεῖτο λεγόντων· "Οὐχί οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός τῆς Μαρίας καί τοῦ τέκτονος Ἰωσήφ; " νυνί δέ ὑπό βασιλέων καί ἀρχόντων ὡς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱός καί ἀληθής Θεός προσκυνεῖται, καί ἐδόξασε καί δοξάζει τούς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτόν ἐν πνεύματι καί ἀληθείᾳ εἰ καί παιδεύει πολλάκις αὐτούς ἁμαρτάνοντας - σιδηροῦς αὐτούς ὑπέρ πάντα τά ἔθνη, τά ὑπό τόν οὐρανόν, ἀντί ὀστρακίνων ποιήσας. Τότε ὡς εἷς τῶν λοιπῶν ἀνθρώπων φθαρτός καί θνητός ἐνομίζετο, καί μέγα ἦν ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ σώματι ἀναλλοιώτως καί ἀτρέπτως τόν ἄμορφον καί ἀόρατον, μορφωθέντα Θεόν καί ἄνθρωπον ὅλον βλεπόμενον, μηδέν πλέον τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων ἐν τοῖς ὁρωμένοις ἔχοντα, ἀλλ᾿ ἐσθίοντα καί πίνοντα καί κοιμώμενον, ἱδροῦντά τε καί κοπιῶντα καί τά (374) ἀνθρώπινα πάντα πλήν ἁμαρτίας ποιοῦντα, τόν τοιοῦτον ἐπιγνῶναι καί πιστεῦσαι εἶναι Θεόν, τόν τόν οὐρανόν αὐτόν καί τήν γῆν καί τά ἐν αὐτοῖς πάντα ποιήσαντα.

∆ιά γάρ τοῦτο καί τόν Πέτρον εἰπόντα ὅτι· "Σύ εἶ ὁ Υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος" ἐμακάρισεν ὁ ∆εσπότης εἰπών· "Μακάριος εἶ, Σίμων βάρ Ἰωνᾶς, ὅτι σάρξ καί αἷμα οὐκ ἀπεκάλυψέ σοι - ταῦτα δηλονότι ἰδεῖν καί εἰπεῖν , ἀλλ᾿ ὁ Πατήρ μου ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς". Ὥστε ὁ νῦν ἀκούων αὐτοῦ διά τῶν ἁγίων Εὐαγγελίων καθ᾿ ἑκάστην βοῶντος καί τό τοῦ εὐλογημένου Πατρός αὐτοῦ θέλημα διαγγέλοντος, καί μή φόβῳ καί τρόμῳ ὑπακούων αὐτοῦ καί φυλάττων τά παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ προστασσόμενα, οὐδέ τότε, εἰ καί παρῆν καί ἐκεῖνον αὐτόν ἐθεάσατο καί διδάσκοντα ἤκουσε, πιστεῦσαι αὐτῷ ὅλως ἠνέσχετο ἄν· δέος μή καί παντάπασιν ἀπιστήσας, ὡς ἀντίθεον αὐτόν καί οὐ Θεόν ἀληθινόν λογισάμενος, ἐβλασφήμησε.

Καί ταῦτα μέν οἱ πάντη τῶν ἄλλων παχύτεροι. Τί δέ οἱ τούτων σεμνότεροι; "Εἰ ἦμεν, φησίν, ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων, ἠγωνισάμεθα ἄν καί ἡμεῖς. Βλέποντες γάρ τήν ἀγαθήν αὐτῶν πολιτείαν καί τούς ἀγῶνας αὐτῶν, ἐζηλώσαμεν ἄν αὐτούς. Νυνί δέ μετά ῥᾳθύμων καί ἀμελῶν συναναστρεφόμενοι, συναπαγόμεθα τούτοις καί ἀβουλήτως συναπολλύμεθα", ἀγνοοῦντες, ὡς εἰκός, καί αὐτοί ὅτι ἐν λιμένι μᾶλλον ἡμεῖς ὑπέρ ἐκείνους ἐσμέν. Ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν πολλαί ἀκουέτωσαν καί οὗτοι! - αἱρέσεις ὑπῆρχον, πολλοί ψευδόχριστοι, πολλοί χριστοκάπηλοι, πολλοί ψευδαπόστολοι, πολλοί ἦσαν (375) ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι, παρρησίᾳ τά τοῦ πονηροῦ ζιζάνια περιϊόντες καί σπείροντες καί πολλούς τοῖς ἑαυτῶν συνήρπασαν λόγοις, ἐξαπαντήσαντες αὐτούς, καί αὐτῶν τάς ψυχάς ἀπωλείᾳ παρέπεμψαν.

Καί τοῦτο ἐκ τῶν τοῦ ἁγίου πατρός ἡμῶν Εὐθυμίου καί Ἀντωνίου βίων ἀληθές εἶναι εὑρήσετε. Γέγραπται γάρ τόν Ἀντώνιον τότε λαμπροτέραν στολήν ὑπέρ τήν συνήθη ἐνδυσάμενον καί ἐπί τόπου ὑψηλοῦ ἀνελθόντα φανερῶσαι ἑαυτόν καί ἐπιδείξασθαι, ἵνα ἐμφανής γεγονώς πάντως ὑπό τῶν αἱρετικῶν κρατηθῇ καί ἀναιρεθῇ· εἰ οὖν μή ἦν διωγμός, οὐκ ἄν τοῦτο ἐποίησεν. Ἐπί δέ τῇ γεννήσει τοῦ ἁγίου πατρός ἡμῶν Εὐθυμίου, οὐ γέγραπται εὐθυμίαν τηνικαῦτα πρυτανευθῆναι ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις παρά Θεοῦ, τῶν διωγμῶν δηλονότι τότε καταπαυθέντων καί τῶν αἱρέσεων; Ἐπί δέ τῷ τέλει τοῦ ὁσίου πατρός ἡμῶν Σάβα οὐκ ἀκούετε ὅσα ὑπέρ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν καί κατά τῶν τότε αἱρέσεων ἠγωνίσατο, καί ὅσοι τότε τῶν μοναχῶν τοῖς