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accessible to the more humble; sympathetic and humane to the weak; long-suffering with those who provoke to anger; forgiving to those who stumble; becoming a comfort to those who grieve. And to put it simply, let us become all things to all people, both for the fear of God, and for the expected threat of the future judgments. For without these things that have been enumerated, there is for no one at all any hope of salvation.

These things, and more than these, the longing for you compels me to say. For I do not know how to measure it, preparing me to form an image of you always, and to converse with you in spirit as if you were present, and compelling me to meet with you through letters when you are absent. But let us not receive the power of what is said superficially; since, along with other things, we will certainly have such words either as our advocates or our accusers—both I who speak, and those who hear, on the fearful day of judgment, depending on how we are disposed towards them. May it be that all of us, both those saying something of what is needful, and those hearing, be shown to be doers of all the divine words; and not only hearers or speakers; by the grace of Christ our God and Savior, who has called us to His own glory and kingdom.

5. Of the same to Constantine. If my blessed master, as he has written, truly rejoices in meeting me as if I were present through my letters, it is clear that in accepting my words he certainly rejoices. Now, the acceptance of words is the disposition of the one accepting the words according to the words. And an accurate proof of this disposition is the work of the power contained in the words. Therefore, let my Master provide me a most faithful pledge of his encouragement to speak: his own eagerness to do what is said; and I will never, as it is written, restrain my lips from saying to him the things that can be profitable to him and to me and to others; insofar as I am able to receive the grace for both understanding intelligently and piously speaking what has been understood, from the God who gives to all generously and does not reproach.

(421) Let us then, beloved, be eager doers of the works according to the commandment; and let us flee the error of this age, and not bind our soul to any of the things in it that are considered pleasant. For the world is passing away, and all things in it are withering, being by nature the waste products of corruption. And this eagerness concerning divine things of those who long for salvation is demonstrated not only by hatred for sin, and an untroubled way of life; and the alienation from wicked men, and the soul's detachment from all corruptible things; and contempt for the flesh for the sake of virtue, and the firm and unyielding self-control towards all things that through the senses deceptively fawn upon the soul; through which we both wither all licentious desires, and calm the disorderly movements of anger, not allowing the reason, having been enslaved, to be carried away by them, and like a charioteer seized by unruly horses to be borne down into chasms; there being no one to order and able to check the irrational impulse of those yoked beneath. But also patience and endurance towards all involuntary temptations; by which, even when suffering bodily, we remain passionless and unconquered in soul; being cast down by none of the things that shake us. Through both of these—I mean both self-control over the passions in our power, and endurance of those not in our power—having been tested, as from some most divine sowing of the commandments, we bring forth fair and mature

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ταπεινοτέροις εὐπρόσιτοι· τοῖς ἀσθενέσι συμπαθεῖς καί φιλάνθρωποι· μακρόθυμοι τοῖς παροργίζουσι· τοῖς πταίουσι συγγνώμονες · τοῖς λυπουμένοις, παρηγορία γινόμενοι. Καί ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, πάντα πᾶσι γενώμεθα, διά τε τόν Θεοῦ φόβον, καί τήν προσδοκωμένην τῶν μελλόντων κριμάτων ἀπειλήν. Χωρίς γάρ τούτων τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων, οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδενί τό παράπαν σωτηρίας ἐλπίς.

Ταῦτά με, καί πλείονα τούτων βιάζεται λέγειν ὁ πρός σέ πόθος. Οὐ γάρ ἔχω πῶς μετρῆσαι τοῦτον, διά παντός ἀνατυποῦσθαί σε παρασκευάζοντα, καί ὡς παρόντι κατά ψυχήν διαλέγεσθαι, καί ἀπόντι βιαζόμενον συντυγχάνειν διά γραμμάτων. Ἀλλά μή παρέργως δεξώμεθα τῶν λεγομένων τήν δύναμιν· ἐπειδή μετά τῶν ἄλλων, καί τούς τοιούτους λόγους ἕξομεν πάντως ἤ συνηγόρους ἤ κατηγόρους · ἐγώ τε ὁ λέγων, καί οἱ ἀκούοντες, κατά τήν φοβεράν ἡμέραν τῆς διαγνώσεως, ὁποτέρω, ἄν περί αὐτούς διατεθῶμεν. Γένοιτο δέ πάντας ἡμᾶς, τούς τε λέγοντάς τι τῶν δεόντων, καί τούς ἀκούοντας, πάντων τῶν θείων ποιητάς ἀποδειχθῆναι λόγων · καί μή μόνον ἀκροατάς ἤ λέκτας· χάριτι Χριστοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, τοῦ καλέσαντος ἡμᾶς εἰς τήν ἑαυτοῦ δόξαν τε καί βασιλείαν.

Ε´. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός Κωνσταντῖνον. Εἰ ὡς παρόντι μοι συντυγχάνων, διά τῶν γραμμάτων εὐφραίνεται κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν ὁ

εὐλογημένος μου δεσπότης, ὡς γέγραφε, δῆλον ὡς τούς ἐμούς ἀποδεχόμενος λόγους πάντως εὐφραίνεται. Ἀποδοχή δέ λόγων ἐστίν, ἡ κατά τούς λόγους τοῦ ἀποδεχομένου τούς λόγους διάθεσις. Ταύτης δέ τῆς διαθέσεως ἀπόδειξίς ἐστιν ἀκριβής, τό ἔργον τῆς ἐμφερομένης τοῖς λόγοις δυνάμεως. Οὐκοῦν τῆς περί τό λέγειν προτροπῆς ἀῤῥαβῶνά μοι παράσχῃ πιστότατον ὁ ἐμός ∆εσπότης, τήν αὐτοῦ περί τό ποιεῖν τά λεγόμενα προθυμίαν· καί οὐδέποτε κωλύσω, κατά τό γεγραμμένον, τά χείλη μου, τοῦ λέγειν πρός αὐτόν τά λυσιτελεῖν αὐτῷ τε κἀμοί καί ἄλλοις δυνάμενα· καθόσον εἰμί δυνατός ὑποδέξασθαι τήν περί τό νοεῖν τε συνετῶς καί εὐσεβῶς λέγειν τά νοηθέντα χάριν τοῦ δωρουμένου Θεοῦ πᾶσιν ἁπλῶς, καί μή ὀνειδίζοντος.

(421) Γενώμεθα τοίνυν, ἠγαπημένε, πρόθυμοι τῶν κατ᾿ ἐντολήν ἔργων ποιηταί· καί φύγωμεν τήν πλάνην τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, καί μηδενί τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ νομιζομένων τερπνῶν τήν ψυχήν καταδήσωμεν. Παρέρχεται γάρ ὁ κόσμος, καί πάντα τά ἐν αὐτῷ μαραίνεται, φθορᾶς ὄντα κατά φύσιν παραναλώματα. Ταύτην δέ τήν περί τά θεῖα τῶν σωτηρίας ἐφιεμένων τεκμηριοῖ προθυμίαν, οὐ μόνον τό πρός τήν ἁμαρτίαν μῖσος, καί ἡ ἀπράγμων διαγωγή· ἥ τε τῶν μοχθηρῶν ἀνδρῶν ἀλλοτρίωσις, καί πρός τά φθειρόμενα πάντα τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποδιάθεσις· ἥ τε τῆς σαρκός διά τήν ἀρετή καταφρόνησις, καί ἡ πρός πάντα τά διά τῶν αἰσθήσεως ἀπατηλῶς τήν ψυχήν ὑποσαίνοντα, στεῤῥά καί ἀνένδοτος ἐγκράτεια· δι᾿ ἧς πάσας τε τάς ἀκολάστους ὀρέξεις μαραίνομεν· καί τάς ἀτάκτους κινήσεις τοῦ θυμῦ κατευνάζομεν, μή συγχωροῦντες ἐξανδραποδισθέντα συνεκφέρεσθαι ταύταις τόν λογισμόν, καί καθάπερ ἠνίοχον ὑπό δυσηνίων ἵππων συναρπασθέντα κατά βαράθρων φέρεσθαι· μηδενός ὄντος τοῦ τάσσοντος καί ἐπισχεῖν δυναμένου τήν ἄλογον τῶν ὑπεζευγμένων ὁρμήν. Ἀλλά καί ἡ πρός πάντας τούς ἀκουσίου πειρασμούς, ὑπομονή καί καρτερία· καθ᾿ ἥν καί πάσχοντες σωματικῶς, ἀπαθεῖς κατά ψυχήν διαμένομεν, καί ἀήττητοι· μηδενί τῶν τινασσόντων καταβαλλόμενοι. ∆ι᾿ ὧν ἀμφοτέρων, ἐγκρατείας τε λέγω τῶν ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν παθημάτων, καί ὑπομονῆς τῶν οὐκ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν, δοκιμασθέντες, καθάπερ τινός σπορᾶς θειοτάτης τῶν ἐντολῶν, εὐπρεπεῖς καί ὡρίμους προβαλλόμεθα