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we, who have been deemed worthy by grace through the Spirit to become the house of God, ought to show such great endurance of sufferings for the sake of righteousness unto the condemnation of sin, and, though being good, to bear readily an ignominious death as evildoers, what will be the end of those who disobey the Gospel of God, that is, what will be the end, or rather the judgment, of those who not only have diligently held fast until the end to the generation according to the pleasure of Adam, which is living and active in both soul and body, by both intention and nature, and has mastered nature, but have neither accepted (14Γ_216> God the Father exhorting them through the incarnate Son, nor indeed the Son Himself, the Mediator who intercedes on behalf of the Father, and who, for our reconciliation to the Father, by the Father's counsel willingly gave Himself over to death for us according to His own will, so that for His own sake He might glorify us so greatly, making us radiant with the beauty of His own divinity, to the same degree that He for our sakes accepted to be dishonored by our passions? For this, I think, is perhaps the Gospel of God: an embassy and exhortation of God to men through the incarnate Son, who bestows as a reward for reconciliation to the Father, to those who obey Him, uncreated deification(16).

Wherefore the great apostle, subsequently lamenting the disobedient, says: and if the righteous is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? meaning by ‘righteous,’ it seems, the one who is faithful and a guardian of the grace given in baptism, who has kept undefiled through many sufferings the adoption through the Spirit, and by 'salvation' the most complete grace of deification to be given by God to the worthy, which even he who holds fast to all divine things to the utmost will scarcely attain, and by ‘ungodly’ and ‘sinner’ the one who is alien to evangelical grace, ‘ungodly’ on account of his unbelief in Christ, and ‘sinner’ on account of the generation of oldness living in him according to the corruption of the passions. Or perhaps the text called ‘ungodly’ one utterly deprived only of the knowledge according to Christ, and ‘sinner’ one who is a believer, but, in my view, a transgressor of the evangelical commandments which keep pure the robe of incorruptibility received through holy baptism; whose position, I mean that of both the ungodly and the sinner, has been in some way comprehended by those who attend to mystical knowledge. For the word ‘where’ clearly indicates a position(17) not lacking (14Γ_218> local circumscription; if the position of the righteous is set in opposition to this, the righteous will in no way be ‘somewhere’ in terms of position, having received as his position beyond ‘where’ by grace God Himself, as the promise holds. For God is not ‘somewhere’, but is uncircumscribably beyond every ‘where’, in Whom will be the foundation of all who are saved, according to what is written: Be for me a protecting God and a strong place to save me; and anyone who does not partake at all in His power(18) of well-being by relation will be like a bodily member completely devoid of the soul's life-giving energy.

Or again, since God will be the place of all who are saved, uncircumscribable and without extension and infinite, becoming all things to all according to the proportion of righteousness, or rather, bestowing Himself on each according to the measure of the sufferings endured here with knowledge for the sake of righteousness, just as a soul reveals itself as active in the members of the body according to the capacity inherent in each member, and through itself holds the members together for being, sustained for life, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear, being deprived of this grace? For he who is unable to receive the active presence of God which constitutes well-being, where will he appear, having undergone the fall from the divine life which is beyond age and time and place?

Therefore, whether according to the first, affirmative interpretation of ‘where will the ungodly and the sinner appear’, he will not be at all free(19) from a circumscribed life, the life that escapes all circumscription and is beyond every place

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ἡμεῖς, ὁ οἶκος τοῦ Θεοῦ γενέσθαι χάριτι διὰ Πνεύματος ἀξιωθέντες, τοσαύτην ὑπὲρ δικαιοσύνης εἰς κατάκρισιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑπομονὴν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι παθημάτων ὀφείλομεν καὶ ὡς κακοῦργοι τὸν ἐφύβριστον, ἀγαθοὶ τυγχάνοντες, προθύμως ἀποφέρεσθαι θάνατον, τί τὸ τέλος τῶν ἀπειθούντων τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ Εὐαγγελίῳ, τουτέστι, ποῖον ἔσται τὸ τέλος ἤγουν ἡ κρίσις τῶν οὐ μόνον ζῶσάν τε καὶ ἐνεργουμένην κατά τε ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα γνώμῃ τε καὶ φύσει τὴν καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ κρατήσασαν τῆς φύσεως γένεσιν μέχρι τέλους διὰ σπουδῆς ἐσχηκότων, ἀλλὰ μήτε προσδεξαμένων (14Γ_216> παρακαλοῦντα τὸν Θεὸν καὶ Πατέρα δι᾽ Υἱοῦ σαρκωθέντος, μήτε μὴν αὐτὸν τὸν ὑπὲρ τοῦ Πατρὸς πρεσβεύοντα μεσίτην καὶ Υἱὸν καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡμῶν εἰς τὸν Πατέρα καταλλαγῆς ἑαυτὸν βουλήσει τοῦ Πατρὸς εἰς τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν θάνατον κατὰ θέλησιν προϊέμενον, ὅπως δι᾽ ἑαυτὸν ἡμᾶς τοσοῦτον δοξάσῃ, τῷ κάλλει καταφαιδρύνας τῆς οἰκείας θεότητος, ὅσον δι᾽ ἡμᾶς αὐτὸς κατεδέξατο τοῖς ἡμῶν ἀτιμασθῆναι παθήμασιν; Τοῦτο γάρ, ὡς οἶμαι, τυχόν ἐστι τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ Εὐαγγέλιον· πρεσβεία Θεοῦ καὶ παράκλησις πρὸς ἀνθρώπους δι᾽ Υἱοῦ σαρκωθέντος καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα καταλλαγῆς μισθὸν δωρουμένου τοῖς πειθομένοις αὐτῷ τὴν ἀγένητον θέωσιν(16).

∆ιὸ σχετλιάζων τοῖς ἐφεξῆς τοὺς ἀπειθεῖς ὁ μέγας ἀπόστολός φησιν· καὶ εἰ ὁ δίκαιος μόλις σῴζεται, ὁ ἀσεβὴς καὶ ἁμαρτωλὸς ποῦ φανεῖται; δίκαιον λέγων, ὡς εἰκός, τὸν πιστὸν καὶ φύλακα τῆς δοθείσης κατὰ τὸ βάπτισμα χάριτος καὶ διὰ πολλῶν παθημάτων ἀκαθαίρετον διατετηρηκότα τὴν διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος υἱοθεσίαν, σωτηρίαν δὲ τὴν ἐκ Θεοῦ τοῖς ἀξίοις δοθησομένην πληρεστάτην τῆς θεώσεως χάριν, ἧς μόλις ἐπιτεύξεται καὶ ὁ κατ᾽ ἄκρον πάντων τῶν θείων ἀνθεκτικός, ἀσεβῆ δὲ καὶ ἁμαρτωλὸν τὸν τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ἀλλότριον χάριτος, ἀσεβῆ μὲν διὰ τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν ἀπιστίαν, ἁμαρτωλὸν δὲ διὰ τὴν ζῶσαν ἐν αὐτῷ κατὰ τὴν φθορὰν τῶν παθημάτων τῆς παλαιότητος γένεσιν. Ἢ τυχὸν ἀσεβῆ μὲν ἐκάλεσεν ὁ λόγος τὸν μόνης παντελῶς ἐστερημένον τῆς κατὰ Χριστὸν ἐπιγνώσεως, ἁμαρτωλὸν δὲ τὸν πιστὸν μέν, παραβάτην δὲ κατ᾽ ἐμὲ τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν ἐντολῶν τῶν καθαρὸν διατηρουσῶν τὸν διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος χιτῶνα τῆς ἀφθαρσίας· ὧν ἡ θέσις, τοῦ ἀσεβοῦς τέ φημι καὶ ἁμαρτωλοῦ, τοῖς ἐπιμελουμένοις τῆς μυστικῆς ποσῶς κατείληπται γνώσεως. Τὸ γὰρ ποῦ θέσιν δηλοῖ σαφῶς(17) τοπικῆς (14Γ_218> οὐκ ἀμοιροῦσαν περιγραφῆς· ἧς εἴπερ ἡ τοῦ δικαίου θέσις ἀντιδιαιρεῖται, οὐκ ἔσται ποῦ πάντως κατὰ τὴν θέσιν ὁ δίκαιος, τὴν ὑπὲρ τὸ ποῦ κατὰ τὴν χάριν θέσιν εἰληφὼς αὐτὸν τὸν Θεόν, ὡς ἡ ὑπόσχεσις. Ὁ γὰρ Θεὸς οὐ ποῦ, ἀλλὰ παντὸς ἀσχέτως ἐπέκεινα ποῦ, ἐν ᾧ πάντων τῶν σῳζομένων ἡ ἵδρυσις ἔσται κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον γενοῦ μοι εἰς Θεὸν ὑπερασπιστὴν καὶ εἰς τόπον ὀχυρὸν τοῦ σῶσαί με· οὗτινος πᾶς ὁ μὴ καθοτιοῦν μεθέξων τῆς τοῦ εὖ εἶναι κατὰ τὴν σχέσιν δυνάμεως(18) μέλει σώματος ἐοικὼς ἔσται πάμπαν ἀμοιροῦντι τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν ζωτικῆς ἐνεργείας.

Ἢ πάλιν, ἐπειδὴ πάντων τῶν σῳζομένων ὁ Θεὸς ἔσται τόπος, ἀπερίγραφός τε καὶ ἀδιάστατος καὶ ἄπειρος, πᾶσι πάντα γινόμενος κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς δικαιοσύνης, μᾶλλον δὲ κατὰ τὸ μέτρον τῶν μετὰ γνώσεως ὑπὲρ δικαιοσύνης ἐνταῦθα παθημάτων ἑαυτὸν ἑκάστῳ δωρούμενος, καθάπερ ψυχὴ σώματος μέλεσι κατὰ τὴν ὑποκειμένην ἑκάστῳ μέλει δύναμιν ἑαυτὴν ἐνεργοῦσαν ἐκφαίνουσα καὶ πρὸς τὸ εἶναι δι᾽ ἑαυτῆς τὰ μέλη συνέχουσα πρὸς ζωὴν συγκρατούμενα, ὁ ἀσεβὴς καὶ ἁμαρτωλὸς ποῦ φανεῖται, ταύτης ἐστερημένος τῆς χάριτος; Ὁ γὰρ μὴ δυνάμενος ἐνεργουμένην τὴν κατὰ τὸ εὖ εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ δέξασθαι παρουσίαν ποῦ φανεῖται, τῆς θείας ζωῆς τῆς ὑπὲρ αἰῶνα καὶ χρόνον καὶ τόπον ὑπομείνας τὴν ἔκπτωσιν;

Οὐκοῦν, εἴτε κατὰ τὴν πρώτην ἐπιβολὴν καταφατικῶς ὁ ἀσεβὴς καὶ ἁμαρτωλὸς ποῦ φανεῖται, περιγεγραμμένης οὐκ ἔσται ζωῆς τὸ παράπαν ἐλεύθερος(19), τὴν πᾶσαν διαφεύγουσαν περιγραφὴν καὶ παντὸς ἐπέκεινα τόπου ζωὴν