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many have acquired for themselves treasures of eternal goods; but others on the contrary, having power and wealth and health, have become deprived of all the divine goods according to their own will. And both the poor Lazarus and the rich man in his story bear witness. The one, deprived of all worldly power, and health and abundance, receiving blessed rest in the bosom of Abraham; but the other, being full to the uttermost of these worldly things, being kept from the holy by the chasm, and being condemned to have the punishing fire as his portion. And again David and Job, the great champions of the truth, having been tested through both kinds of life diametrically opposed to one another in their fortunes, preserved virtue, which increases through adversities. For virtue is not the work of wealth and health and power, nor again of the lot opposed to these, so that it should suffer a change towards the opposite, being altered together with circumstances; but of a divine disposition, and of a will perfectly formed for the good, and immutably fixed according to God, and preserving its own identity unchanged in opposite circumstances.

Therefore, let us love the authority being given, and let us accept it as an instrument of assistance given to us by God for virtue. And again, it being taken away, let us not seek it, as putting away a great weight of a dreadful burden, and revealing the purpose of Providence for us, which lovingly arranges what is profitable for each; For "Seek not," says the Wise Man, "to be a judge, lest you be not able to take away iniquities; lest you ever be in awe of the face of a powerful man, and you place a stumbling block in your uprightness; and you sin against the multitude of the city, and you cast yourself down in the crowd, and you bind a sin twice." But if you should wish to appear from these things, O blessed one, you came as less than none of those of your time. For the eyes of the Lord, as the same Wise Man said, looked upon you for good, and He has raised you up from your humiliation, and He has lifted up your head, and many have marveled at you, and they tell your virtues to peoples and nations. And what the Holy Spirit proclaimed beforehand about the apostles through the great David: "The sound of your achievements has gone out into all the earth, and to the ends of the world the fragrant report of your virtues has come." For you did not eat your bread alone, but you richly shared it with orphans, and from their youth you raised them as a father, and from their mother's womb (373) having led them to righteousness. You did not overlook the naked perishing, and you did not fail to clothe them; and all the helpless blessed you; for you warmed their shoulders with the fleece of your lambs. You did not place your gold in your dust, that is, for the enjoyment of your flesh; but you sent all your wealth ahead to heaven, in preparation for the goods of the soul. You were not deceived by perishable wealth, and as it flowed you did not set your heart upon it. You did not consort with scoffers, whose way of life is a shame, and whose life is filled with stains. Your foot did not hasten to deceit; nor did you rejoice at the fall of enemies, and your heart say, "Well done." The land did not groan against you; for you did not eat its strength alone without payment, nor did you oppress the souls of its owners. You kept your hands from unjust gifts; and you saved a poor man from the hand of a powerful man, and you wept over every helpless person; and seeing a man in distress, you groaned. You helped orphans who had no helper; and the mouths of widows blessed you. For you put on righteousness, and you clothed yourself with upright judgment, like a double cloak. You became an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame, and a father to the helpless. You broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and from between their teeth you snatched the prey. And to speak concisely, you feed the hungry, and give drink to the thirsty, and strangers

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πολλούς ἀγαθῶν αἰωνίων ἐκτήσαντο θησαυρούς· ἕτεροι δέ τοὐναντίον, δυναστείαν καί πλοῦτον καί ὑγείαν ἔχοντες, πάντων τῶν θείων ἀγαθῶν κατ᾿ οἰκείαν γνώμην γεγόνασιν ἔκπτωτοι. Καί μαρτυροῦσιν ὅ τε πτωχός Λάζαρος, καί ὁ κατ᾿ αὐτόν πλούσιος. Ὁ μέν πάσης ὑλικῆς δυναστείας, ὑγείας τε καί περιουσίας ἐστερημένος, τήν ἐν κόλποις Ἀβράαμ δεχόμενος μακαρίαν ἀνάπαυσιν· ὁ δέ τούτων τῶν ὑλικῶν εἰς ἄκρον ὑπάρχων κατάκομος, εἰργόμενος ἀπό τῶν ὀσίων τῷ χάσματι, καί τό κολαστικόν πῦρ ἔχειν μερίδα κατακρινόμενος. Καί πάλιν ∆αβίδ καί Ἰώβ, οἱ μεγάλοι τῆς ἀληθείας ἀγωνισταί, δι᾿ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν βίων τῶν ἀλλήλων κατά διάμετρον ἀντιπαθῶς ἀπῳκισμένων δοκιμασθέντες, τήν ἀρετήν διεσώσαντο διά τῶν ἐναντίων αὐξάνουσαν. Οὐ γάρ ἐστι πλούτου καί ὑγείας καί δυναστείας ἔργον· οὐδ᾿ αὖ πάλιν τῆς τούτοις ἀντικειμένης μοίρας ἡ ἀρετή, ἵνα πάθῃ πρός τά ἐναντία μεταβολήν, συναλλοιωθεῖσα τοῖς πράγμασιν· ἀλλά διαθέσεως θείας, καί γνώμης εἰς ἄκρον τῷ καλῷ πεποιωμένης, καί κατά Θεόν ἀμεταβόλως πεπηγυίας, καί τήν οἰκείαν ἐν τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἀπαράλλακτον φυλαττούσης ταυτότητα.

∆ιδομένην τοίνυν τήν ἀρχήν στέρξωμεν, καί ὡς τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἡμῖν παρά Θεοῦ δοθεῖσαν ἐπικουρίας ὄργανον καταδεξώμεθα. Καί πάλιν ἀφαιρουμένην αὐτήν μή ζητήσωμεν, ὡς μέγα φοβερᾶς ἀχθηδόνος βάρος ἀποτιθέμενοι, καί τόν ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν τῆς Προνοίας σκοπόν ἀποκαλύπτουσαν, τῆς τό συμφέρον ἑκάστῳ φιλανθρώπως οἰκονομούσης· Μή ζήτει, γάρ, φησίν ὁ Σοφός, γενέσθαι κριτής, μή οὐκ ἰσχύσης ἐξᾶραι ἀδικίας· μή ποτε εὐλαβηθῇς ἀπό προσώπου δυνάστου, καί θήσεις σκάνδαλον ἐν εὐθύτητί σου· καί ἁμάρτῃς εἰς πλῆθος πόλεως, καί καταβάλῃς ἑαυτόν ἐν ὄχλῳ, καί καταδεσμεύσῃς δίς ἁμαρτίαν. Πλήν γε ὅτι εἰ κἀκ τούτων φανῆναι θελήσειας, εὐλογημένε, οὐδενός ἔλαττον ἦλθες τῶν κατά σέ. Οἱ γάρ ὀφθαλμοί Κυρίου, καθώς ὁ αὐτός ἔφη Σοφός, ἐπέβλεψαν ἐπί σέ εἰς ἀγαθά, καί ἀνώρθωσέ σε ἐκ ταπεινώσεώς σου, καί ἀνύψωσε τήν κεφαλήν σου, καί ἀπεθαύμασάν σε πολλοί, καί διηγοῦνται λαοῖς τε καί ἔθνεσι τάς ἀρετάς σου. Καί ὅ περί τῶν ἀποστόλων διά τοῦ μεγάλου ∆αβίδ τό ἅγιον Πνεῦμα προανεφώνησεν· Εἰς πᾶσαν τήν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος τῶν κατορθωμάτων σου, καί εἰς τά πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τῶν σῶν ἀρετῶν εὐώδης ἦλθε διάδοσις. Οὐ γάρ ἔφαγες τόν ἄρτον σου μόνος, ἀλλ᾿ ὀρφανοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ πλουσίως μετέδωκας, καί ἐκ νεότητος αὐτῶν ἐξέτρεψας αὐτούς ὡς πατήρ, καί ἐκ γαστρός μητρός (373) αὐτῶν ἐπί δικαιοσύνην ὡδηγήσας. Οὐχ ὑπερεῖδες γυμνούς ἀπολλυμένους, καί οὐκ ἠμφίασας· ἀδύνατοι δέ πάντες ηὐλόγησάν σε· τούς γάρ ὤμους αὐτῶν ἐθέρμανας ἀπό κουρᾶς ἀμνῶν σου. Οὐκ ἔταξας τό χρυσίον σου εἰς τόν χοῦν σου, τουτέστιν εἰς ἀπόλαυσιν τῆς σαρκός σου· ἀλλ᾿ ἐν οὐρανῷ πάντα τόν πλοῦτόν σου προέπεμψας, εἰς ἑτοιμασίαν τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγαθῶν. Οὐκ ἠπατήθης πλούτῳ φθειρομένῳ, καί ῥέοντι αὐτῷ οὐ προσέθηκας καρδίαν. Γελοιασταῖς οὐ συνηυλίσθης, ὧν ὁ βίος ἐστίν αἰσχύνη, καί ἡ ζωή κηλίδων πεπλήρωται. Οὐκ ἐσπούδασεν ὁ ποῦς σου εἰς δόλον· οὐδέ ἐπεχάρης πτώματι ἐχθρῶν, καί εἶπεν ἡ καρδία σου. Εὖγε. Οὐκ ἐστέναξεν ἡ γῆ ἐπί σοί· οὐ γάρ ἔφαγες μόνος τήν ἰσχύν αὐτῆς ἄνευ τιμῆς, οὐδέ ψυχάς κυρίων αὐτῆς ἐξέθλιψας. Ἀπό δώρων ἀδίκων τάς χεῖρας συνέστειλας· διέσωσας δέ πτωχόν ἐκ χειρός δυνάστου, καί ἔκλαυσας ἐπί παντί ἀδυνάτῳ· καί ἰδῶν ἄνδρα ἐν ἀνάγκαις, ἐστέναξας. Ὀρφανοῖς οἷς οὐκ ἦν βοηθός ἐβοήθησας· στόματα δέ χηρῶν ηὐλόγησάν σε. ∆ικαιοσύνην γάρ ἐνδύσω, καί ἠμφιάσω κρῖμα εὐθές, ἴσα διπλοΐδι. Ὀφθαλμός ἐγένου τυφλῶν, ποῦς δέ χωλῶν, καί πατήρ ἀδυνάτων. Μύλας ἀδίκων συνέτριψας, καί ἐκ μέσου τῶν ὀδόντων αὐτῶν ἐξέσπασας ἅρπαγμα. Καί συνελόντα φάναι, πεινῶντας διατρέφεις, καί διψῶντας ποτίζεις, καί ξένους