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itself a gloomy thing; but if it also takes on sufferings and misfortunes, it makes a great increase of painful things. Imagine for me, then, a nighttime attack of enemies, an unexpected raid, the enslavement of women and children, the plundering of possessions, the murder of those who fall into their hands, the destruction of a wall, the burning of a city. Therefore, the wall of Moab will be destroyed by night. For having been bereft of the enclosure of the walls, of necessity those who put forth the security from them will also perish with them. Grieve, therefore, for yourselves (he says). For Dibon will also be destroyed, where your altar is; there you will go up to weep. Grieve for yourselves. Blessed is he who, having his soul pure, does not have his own cause for grief; but because love does not seek its own, when a member suffers, he himself suffers with it and grieves with it and weeps with those who weep, according to the Apostle, who mourned for many of those who had sinned before and had not repented. Who says again: That I have great grief and unceasing pain in my heart for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. But if someone is not such a person, but is wallowing in his own sins, let him grieve for himself, being conquered by the enemy, against whom is the struggle. This person's grief gladdens the one who, with words of teaching, brings him to awareness. For just as burning and punishing medicines cleanse ulcers and the stench from pus, and make corrupted wounds and bodies more suitable for local healing, so it seems to me that the phrase "Grieve for yourselves" has such a meaning, spoken to those who are proud of some wisdom, such as are the leaders of the heresies, who are destroyed by night, because Everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light. And since they are in the night, they will be destroyed by night, and their wall falls by night; that is, the sophistical strongholds, under which they sat and seemed to have put forth sufficient security from them. For dialectic preserves the heresies of falsely called knowledge, like a wall; when it has fallen, it is necessary for the captured to wail. Grieve, therefore, for yourselves, since they were destroyed. 15.295 And Dibon is also worthy of destruction, where your temple was built. We understand Dibon, paying attention to its interpretation. And Dibon is interpreted, "their flowing." Just as, therefore, the word of truth is firm and steadfast, founded and not moved, and he who is rooted in faith is compared to a man, founding upon the rock. And the manna is said to be like the frost of the earth, indicating through its firmness the solid and vigorous nature of the divine word. Thus the contrary doctrines and their persuasive advocates are fluid and unstable, unable to stand; and the father of lies did not stand in the truth. Therefore, the instability of the lie was named "flowing." Let them grieve, therefore, who build such things, who hold unstable and unfixed doctrines about God. For this is the sacrificial altar, which has been condemned to the destruction of Dibon, where the altar was built. Go up, therefore, weeping; not sacrificing, but repenting for the things for which you once prayed wrongly, because your prayer became a sin to you. For he who worships the creature rather than the creator and does not worship the Son, nor the Father through the Son, but establishes his own doctrines and on foreign sacrificial altars offers his sacrifice of praise, let such a one weep, for godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. These things have been said not only to those who have obtained their opinion about God from heretical doctrines, but also to as many as accept fluid things, having their hope in these, disobeying the one who says: If wealth flows, do not set your heart on it; and being terrified about the glory of the flesh, which is grass, and its glory as the flower of grass. Such also is the beauty in flesh and blood, upon which

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ἑαυτὴν σκυθρω πόν τι πρᾶγμα· ἐὰν δὲ καὶ πάθη προσλάβῃ καὶ συμφορὰς, πολλὴν ποιεῖ τῶν ἀλγεινῶν τὴν ἐπίδοσιν. Νόησον οὖν μοι νυκτερινὴν ἔφοδον πολεμίων, ἀπροσδόκητον καταδρομὴν, γυναικῶν καὶ παίδων ἐξανδραποδισμὸν, χρημάτων διαρπα γὴν, φόνον τῶν εἰς χεῖρας ἀφικνουμένων, τείχους κατα στροφὴν, ἐμπρησμὸν πόλεως. Νυκτὸς οὖν ἀπολεῖται τὸ τεῖχος τῆς Μωαβίτιδος. Τῆς γὰρ τῶν τειχῶν περιβολῆς ἐρη μωθέντες, ἀναγκαίως καὶ οἱ τὴν ἀπ' αὐτῶν ἀσφάλειαν προ βαλλόμενοι συναπολοῦνται. Λυπεῖσθε οὖν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς (φησίν). Ἀπολεῖται γὰρ καὶ ∆εηβὼν, οὗ ὁ βωμὸς ὑμῶν· ἐκεῖ ἀνα βήσεσθε κλαίειν. Λυπεῖσθε ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς. Μακάριος μὲν ὅστις καθαρὰν ἔχων τὴν ψυχὴν ἑαυτοῦ, μὴ ἔχει οἰκείαν ὑπόθεσιν λύπης· διὰ δὲ τὸ τὴν ἀγάπην μὴ ζητεῖν τὸ ἑαυτῆς, πάσχοντος μέλους, συμπάσχων καὶ αὐτὸς καὶ συλλυπούμενος καὶ κλαίων μετὰ κλαιόντων, κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον, τὸν πενθοῦντα πολλοὺς τῶν προημαρτηκότων καὶ μὴ μετανοησάντων. Ὃς πάλιν λέγει· Ὅτι λύπη μοί ἐστι μεγάλη καὶ ἀδιάλειπτος ὀδύνη τῇ καρδίᾳ μου ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου, τῶν συγγενῶν μου κατὰ σάρκα. Εἰ δέ τις μὴ τοιοῦτός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ ταῖς ἰδίαις ἁμαρτίαις ἐγκαλιν δεῖται, οὗτος ἐφ' ἑαυτῷ λυπείσθω, νικωμένῳ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, πρὸς ὅν ἐστιν ἡ πάλη. Ἡ τούτου λύπη εὐφραίνει τὸν τοῖς διδασκαλικοῖς λόγοις ἐνάγοντα αὐτὸν εἰς συναίσθησιν. Ὡς γὰρ τὰ καίοντα καὶ κολάζοντα φάρμακα ἀνακαθαίρει τὰ ἕλκη καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν πύων δυσωδίαν καὶ τὰ διεφθαρμένα τραύματα καὶ σώματα ἐπιτηδειότερα ποιεῖ πρὸς τὴν κατὰ τόπον συνούλωσιν, τοιοῦτον ἔχειν μοι δοκεῖ νοῦν τὸ Λυ πεῖσθε ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς, λεγόμενον πρὸς τοὺς μέγα φρονοῦντας ἐπί τινι σοφίᾳ, ὁποῖοί εἰσιν οἱ τῶν αἱρέσεων προεστῶτες, οἱ νυκτὸς ἀπολλύμενοι, διότι Πᾶς ὁ τὰ φαῦλα πράσσων, μισεῖ τὸ φῶς καὶ οὐκ ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἐν νυκτὶ ὄντες, νυκτὸς ἀπολοῦνται, νυκτὸς αὐτῶν καὶ τὸ τεῖχος πίπτει· τουτέστι τὰ σοφιστικὰ ὀχυρώματα, οἷς ὑποκαθή μενοι ἐδόκουν ἱκανὴν ἀπ' αὐτῶν ἀσφάλειαν προβεβλῆσθαι. Ἡ γὰρ διαλεκτικὴ τὰς αἱρέσεις τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως, ὥσπερ τεῖχος, συντηρεῖ· ἧς διαπεσούσης, ὀλολύζειν ἀνάγκη τοὺς ἑαλωκότας. Λυπεῖσθε οὖν ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς, ἐπείπερ ἀπώ λοντο. 15.295 Ἀπωλείας δὲ ἄξιον καὶ τὸ ∆εηβὼν, ἔνθα ὁ ναὸς ὑμῶν ᾠκοδόμητο. Νοοῦμεν τὴν ∆εηβὼν, τῇ ἑρμηνείᾳ προσ έχοντες. Ἑρμηνεύεται δὲ ἡ ∆εηβὼν, ῥύσις αὐτῶν. Ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας λόγος πάγιός ἐστι καὶ ἑδραῖος, τεθε μελιωμένος καὶ μὴ μετακινούμενος, καὶ ὁ τῇ πίστει ἐῤῥι ζωμένος παραβάλλεται ἀνθρώπῳ, θεμελιοῦντι ἐπὶ τὴν πέ τραν. Καὶ τὸ μάννα δὲ λέγεται εἶναι ὡσεὶ πάγος τῆς γῆς, τοῦ θείου λόγου τὸ συνεστὸς καὶ εὔτονον διὰ τῆς πήξεως παραδηλοῦντος. Οὕτω τὰ ἐναντία δόγματα καὶ αἱ συν ήγοροι αὐτῶν πιθανότητες, ῥευστὰ καὶ ἀβέβαιά ἐστιν, ἑστά ναι μὴ δυνάμενα· καὶ ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ ψεύδους ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ οὐχ ἕστηκε. Τὸ οὖν ἄστατον τοῦ ψεύδους, ῥύσις ὠνομάσθη. Λυπείσθωσαν οὖν οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα οἰκοδομοῦντες, οἱ τοὺς περὶ Θεοῦ λόγους ἀστάτους ἔχοντες καὶ ἀστηρίκτους. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ θυσιαστήριον, ὃ καταδεδίκασται εἰς ἀπώλειαν τοῦ ∆εηβὼν, οὗ ὁ βωμὸς ᾠκοδόμητο. Ἀναβᾶτε οὖν κλαίοντες· οὐχὶ θύοντες, ἀλλὰ μεταμελόμενοι ἐφ' οἷς ποτε κακῶς προσηύξασθε, ὅτι ἐγένετο ὑμῖν ἡ προσευχῆ εἰς ἁμαρ τίαν. Ὁ γὰρ τῇ κτίσει λατρεύων παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα καὶ μὴ προσκυνῶν μὲν Υἱὸν, μηδὲ διὰ τοῦ Υἱοῦ τὸν Πατέρα, ἴδια δὲ πηγνὺς δόγματα καὶ ἐπ' ἀλλοτρίων θυσιαστηρίων προσφέρων ἑαυτοῦ τὴν θυσίαν τῆς αἰνέσεως, ὁ τοιοῦτος κλαιέτω, τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν λύπης, σωτηρίαν αὐτῷ ἀμεταμέλητον προξενούσης. Οὐ μόνον δὲ τοῖς ἀπὸ αἱρετικῶν δογμάτων τὴν περὶ Θεοῦ δόξαν συνειληχόσι ταῦτα εἴρηται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσοι τὰ ῥευστὰ πράγματα ἀποδεχόμενοι, ἐπὶ τούτοις ἔχουσι τὴν ἐλπίδα, πα ρακούοντες μὲν τοῦ λέγοντος· Πλοῦτος ἐὰν ῥέῃ, μὴ προσ τίθεσθε καρδίαν· ἐπτοημένοι δὲ περὶ τὴν δόξαν τῆς σαρκὸς, ἥτις ἐστὶ χόρτος, καὶ ἡ δόξα αὐτῶν ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου. Τοιοῦτον δέ ἐστι καὶ τὸ ἐν σαρκὶ καὶ αἵματι κάλλος, ἐφ' ᾧ