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of our Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly man and God, he has in no way put on in the rational and intellectual man. But not having put this on sensitively and consciously, he is only blood and flesh, not being able to receive a sense of spiritual glory through the word, just as those blind from birth are unable to see the light of the sun through word alone. But come, you who have the intelligible light in yourselves, let us give glory through him to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Concerning that one ought not to say that it is impossible now for one who wishes to reach the summit of virtue and to rival the saints of old. And that everyone who teaches the opposite of the divine Scriptures dogmatizes a new heresy to those who are persuaded by him.

And concerning tears, that tears are with us by nature.

Discourse 29. (372) Brothers and fathers, many say every day, whom we also hear saying: "If we had been in the days of the apostles and were worthy to see Christ, as they were, we also would have become saints like them," being ignorant that it is he himself who is speaking both then and now in the whole world. For if he who was of old and is now is not the same, being in like manner God in all things, both in his energies and in his effects, how is the Father always seen speaking in the Son, and the Son in the Father through the Spirit, these things: "My Father is working until now, and I am working"?

But perhaps someone will say: "It is not the same thing to have seen him bodily then and to hear now only his words and to be taught about him and his kingdom." And I say that (373) the now and the then are by no means equal, but that the present and the now is by far greater and leads us more easily to greater faith and full assurance than to have seen and heard him bodily then. For then he appeared as an insignificant man to the ungrateful Jews, but now he is proclaimed to us as true God. Then he associated bodily 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 is believed to nourish the whole world, and we say—if indeed we also believe—that without him nothing comes to be. Then he was even despised by the most insignificant, who said: "Is this not the son of Mary and of Joseph the carpenter? " but now he is worshiped 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 in truth—even if he often chastises them when they sin—having made them of iron instead of earthenware, above all the nations under heaven. Then he was considered corruptible and mortal, as one of the rest of men, and it was a great thing to recognize in a human body, unalterably and immutably, the formless and invisible one, who had been formed as God and whole man seen, having in his visible aspects nothing more than other men, but eating and drinking and sleeping, sweating and growing weary and doing (374) all human things except sin, to recognize such a one and believe him to be God, the one who made heaven itself and the earth and all things in them.

For because of this, when Peter said: "You are the Son of the living God," the Master declared him blessed, saying: "Blessed are you, Simon bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood

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τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ ἐπουρανίου ἀνθρώπου τε καί Θεοῦ, ἐν τῷ λογικῷ καί νοερῷ ἀνθρώπῳ οὐδαμῶς ἐνεδύσατο. Ταύτην δέ μή εὐαισθήτως καί γνωστῶς ἐνδυσάμενος, αἷμα μόνον ἐστί καί σάρξ, πνευματικῆς δόξης αἴσθησιν μή δυνάμενος διά τοῦ λόγου λαβεῖν, καθάπερ καί οἱ ἐκ γεννητῆς τυφλοί διά λόγου μόνου τό τοῦ ἡλίου φῶς ἰδεῖν οὐ δύνανται. Ἀλλά δεῦτε οἱ τό φῶς τό νοητόν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἔχοντες, δῶμεν δόξαν δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τῷ Πατρί καί τῷ Υἱῷ καί τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καί ἀεί καί εἰς τούς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

Περί τοῦ μή δεῖν λέγειν, ὅτι ἀδύνατον νῦν εἰς ἄκρον ἐλθεῖν ἀρετῆς τόν βουλόμενον καί τοῖς πάλαι ἁμιλληθῆναι ἁγίοις. Καί ὅτι πᾶς ὁ τά ἐναντία διδάσκων τῶν θείων Γραφῶν νέαν αἵρεσιν τοῖς πειθομένοις αὐτῷ

δογματίζει. Καί περί δακρύων, ὅτι ἐκ φύσεως ἡμῖν τά δάκρυα πρόσεστι.

Λόγος ΚΘ΄. (372) Ἀδελφοί καί πατέρες, πολλοί καθ᾿ ἑκάστην λέγουσιν ὧν ἀκούομεν καί ἡμεῖς

λεγόντων · "Εἰ ἦμεν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῶν ἀποστόλων καί τόν Χριστόν, ὡς ἐκεῖνοι, κατιδεῖν ἠξιώθημεν, ἅγιοι ἄν ἐγενόμεθα καί ἡμεῖς ὡς ἐκεῖνοι"ἀγνοοῦντες ὅτι αὐτός ἐκεῖνος ἐστιν, ὁ καί τότε καί νῦν ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ λαλῶν. Εἰ γάρ μή ὁ πάλαι καί νῦν ἐστιν ὁ αὐτός, ὡσαύτως ὤν κατά πάντα Θεός κἄν ταῖς ἐνεργείαις κἄν τοῖς τελέσμασι, πῶς ἐν Υἱῷ λέγων ἀεί φαίνεται ὁ Πατήρ καί ὁ Υἱός ἐν τῷ Πατρί διά Πνεύματος ταῦτα· "Ὁ πατήρ μου ἕως ἄρτι ἐργάζεται κἀγώ ἐργάζομαι";

Ἀλλ᾿ ἴσως ἐρεῖ τις· "Οὐκ ἔστιν ἴσον τό ἐκεῖνον αὐτόν τότε σωματικῶς ἰδέσθαι καί τό ἀκούειν νῦν μόνον τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ καί τά περί ἐκείνου καί τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ 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