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I have extended the discourse to great length; but I know not how, having fallen into the richness of the achievements of this saint, just as by the rush of a most violent current of water, so my tongue was carried away. Therefore, having stopped the discourse at this point, I ask your love to carry him perpetually in your mind, and to consider this continually, that sharing the same nature with us and subject to the same passions, and having a humble and despised trade, both stitching skins and standing in a workshop, since he willed and desired to give himself over to the labors of virtue, and to make himself worthy of the reception of the Holy Spirit, he enjoyed more abundantly the honor from above; which may we all attain, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

DISCOURSE 31. On Death. Our mind is eager to learn and comprehend many things already,

beloved; but especially the time of the consummation. For this reason, Paul, checking those who are sick with this untimely curiosity, says: But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For what, tell me, is the profit? Let us suppose the consummation will be after twenty years, after thirty years, after a hundred; what is that to us? is not the consummation for each person the end of his own life? why are you meddlesome and in travail over the common end? But just as in other things we neglect our own affairs and are anxious about common ones, and care for all things more than our own, so also here, each neglecting to be anxious about his own end, we wish to be taught about the common dissolution. But if you wish to learn why our death is hidden from us, and why it comes as a thief in the night, I will say what seems good to me. No one would ever have cared for virtue throughout their whole life if they knew the end, but knowing their last day, after having previously committed countless terrible acts, and then coming to repentance, they would have thus departed. For if now, when the fear of uncertainty shakes everyone's souls, all those who have spent their whole previous 63.802.30 life in wickedness give themselves over to repentance at their last breath, if they were strongly convinced of this, who would ever have cared for virtue? Besides, if each person knew that he would certainly die tomorrow, he would shrink from daring nothing before that day, but would even have slaughtered whomever he wished, and would have avenged himself by repelling his enemies, and having first satisfied his soul, he would thus have received his end. In addition to this, not even the noble men would have a reward for daring terrible things, having their courage from the fact that their end was not yet present; and the most sluggish person would have stepped into a fire, if he found some trustworthy guarantor of his safety. For he who expects to die from every danger, and knows that he will live if he is not reckless, but will die for daring such things, has brought forth the greatest proof of his own zeal and of his contempt for life here. For he who truly philosophizes, and is lifted up by the hopes of things to come, will not even consider death to be death, but seeing a dead man lying before his eyes, he will not suffer the same things as the many, as he considers the crowns. And just as the farmer, seeing the grain decomposing, does not fall down nor become downcast; so also the righteous man, glorying in his achievements, and expecting the kingdom each day, when he sees death lying before his eyes, is not distressed like the 63.803 many, he is not disturbed or troubled; for he knows that for those who have lived rightly, death is a translation to better things, and a journey to what is superior, and a race towards the crowns. For this reason there are tombs before the cities, tombs before the fields, and everywhere

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μῆκος τὸν λόγον ἐξέτεινα· ἀλλ' οὐκ οἶδα πῶς, ἐμπεσὼν εἰς τὸν πλοῦτον τῶν κατορθωμάτων τοῦ ἁγίου τούτου, καθάπερ ὑπὸ ῥύμης ὑδάτων σφοδροτάτης, οὕτω τὴν γλῶτταν παρεσύρην. ∆ιὸ μέχρι τούτου στήσας τὸν λόγον, παρακαλῶ τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀγάπην διηνεκῶς τοῦτον ἐν διανοίᾳ περιφέρειν, καὶ τοῦτο λογίζεσθαι συνεχῶς, ὅτι τῆς αὐτῆς ἡμῖν κοινωνῶν φύσεως καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς πάθεσιν ὑποκείμενος, καὶ ἐπιτήδευμα ἔχων εὐτελὲς καὶ εὐκαταφρόνητον, καὶ δέρματα ῥάπτων, καὶ ἐπὶ ἐργαστηρίου ἑστηκὼς, ἐπειδὴ ἐβουλήθη καὶ ἠθέλησε πρὸς τοὺς τῆς ἀρετῆς πόνους ἑαυτὸν ἐκδοῦναι, καὶ ἄξιον ἑαυτὸν καταστῆσαι τῆς ὑποδοχῆς τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, δαψιλεστέρας ἀπέλαυσε τῆς ἄνωθεν φιλοτιμίας· ἧς γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ᾧ ἡ δόξα καὶ τὸ κράτος, σὺν τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΛΑʹ. Περὶ θανάτου. Πολλὰ μὲν ἐπείγεται μανθάνειν ἤδη καὶ καταλαμβάνειν ἡμῶν ἡ διάνοια,

ἀγαπητοί· μάλιστα δὲ τὸν περὶ συντελείας καιρόν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τοὺς ταύτην τὴν ἄκαιρον νοσοῦντας πολυπραγμοσύνην καταστέλλων ὁ Παῦλός φησι· Περὶ δὲ τῶν χρόνων καὶ τῶν καιρῶν, ἀδελφοὶ, οὐ χρείαν ἔχετε γράφεσθαι ὑμῖν. Ποῖον γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, τὸ κέρδος; Θῶμεν εἶναι τὴν συντέλειαν μετὰ εἴκοσιν ἔτη, μετὰ τριάκοντα ἔτη, μετὰ ἑκατόν· τί τοῦτο πρὸς ἡμᾶς; οὐχὶ ἑκάστου ἡ συντέλεια τὸ τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ πέρας ἐστί; τί πολυπραγμονεῖς καὶ ὠδίνεις ὑπὲρ τοῦ κοινοῦ τέλους; Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις τὰ ἴδια ἀφέντες, τὰ κοινὰ μεριμνῶμεν, καὶ πάντων φροντίζομεν μᾶλλον ἢ τῶν οἰκείων, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα, ἀφέντες τὸ οἰκεῖον ἕκαστος τέλος μεριμνᾷν, τὴν κοινὴν κατάλυσιν διδαχθῆναι βουλόμεθα. Εἰ δὲ μαθεῖν βούλεσθε διὰ τί ἡμῖν ἡ τελευτὴ ἀποκέκρυπται, καὶ διὰ τί ὡς κλέπτης ἐν νυκτὶ, οὕτως ἔρχεται, ἐγὼ, ὡς ἐμαυτῷ δοκεῖ καλῶς ἔχειν, ἐρῶ. Οὐδεὶς ἂν ἀρετῆς ἐπεμελήθη ποτὲ παρὰ τὸν ἅπαντα βίον, εἰ τὸ τέλος ᾔδει, ἀλλ' εἰδὼς αὐτοῦ τὴν τελευταίαν ἡμέραν, μυρία ἐργασάμενος πρότερον δεινὰ, καὶ τῇ μετανοίᾳ τότε προσελθὼν, οὕτως ἂν ἀπῆλθεν. Εἰ γὰρ νῦν τοῦ τῆς ἀδηλίας φόβου κατασείοντος τὰς ἁπάντων ψυχὰς, πάντες τὸν ἔμπροσθεν 63.802.30 βίον ἅπαντα ἐν κακίᾳ καταναλώσαντες, εἰς ἐσχάτας ἀναπνοὰς τῇ μετανοίᾳ διδόασιν ἑαυτοὺς, εἰ σφόδρα ἦσαν ὑπὲρ τούτου πεπεικότες ἑαυτοὺς, τίς ἄν ποτε ἀρετῆς ἐπεμελήθη; Ἄλλως τε, εἰ ᾔδει ἕκαστος ὅτι αὔριον πάντως τεθνήξεται, οὐδὲν ἂν παρῃτήσατο τολμῆσαι πρὸ τῆς ἡμέρας ἐκείνης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔσφαξεν οὓς ἂν ἠθέλησε, καὶ ἀνεκτήσατο ἑαυτὸν τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἀμύνων, καὶ πρότερον ἀναπαύσας αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν, οὕτως ἂν ἐδέξατο τὴν τελευτήν. Πρὸς τούτῳ, οὐδὲ αὐτοὶ οἱ γενναῖοι ἄνδρες μισθὸν ἂν ἔσχον κατατολμῶντες τῶν δεινῶν, τὸ θαῤῥεῖν ἐκ τοῦ μήπω παρεῖναι τὴν τελευτὴν ἔχοντες· καὶ ὁ νωθρότατος εἰς πῦρ ἐνέβη, εἴ τινα ἀξιόπιστον ἐγγυητὴν εὗρε τῆς ἀσφαλείας. Ὁ γὰρ ἐξ ἑκάστου κινδύνου προσδοκῶν τεθνήξεσθαι, καὶ εἰδὼς ὅτι ζήσεται μὲν μὴ παραβουλευσάμενος, τεθνήξεται δὲ τοιαῦτα κατατολμῶν, τῆς αὐτοῦ προθυμίας καὶ τοῦ καταφρονεῖν τῆς ἐνθάδε ζωῆς μέγιστον ἐξήνεγκε τεκμήριον. Ὁ γὰρ τῷ ὄντι φιλοσοφῶν, καὶ ταῖς τῶν μελλόντων ἐλπίσιν ὀρθούμενος, οὐδὲ τὸν θάνατον ἡγήσεται θάνατον, ἀλλ' ὁρῶν πρὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν κείμενον τεθνηκότα, οὐ πείσεται τὰ τῶν πολλῶν, τοὺς στεφάνους ἀναλογιζόμενος. Καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ γηπόνος τὸν σῖτον διαλυόμενον ὁρῶν, οὐ καταπίπτει οὐδὲ κατηφὴς γίνεται· οὕτω καὶ ὁ δίκαιος κατορθώμασι κομῶν, καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν καθ' ἑκάστην προσδοκῶν τὴν ἡμέραν, ὅταν ἴδῃ τὸν θάνατον πρὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν κείμενον, οὐκ ἀλύει καθάπερ οἱ 63.803 πολλοὶ, οὐ θορυβεῖται καὶ ταράττεται· οἶδε γὰρ, ὅτι θάνατος τοῖς ὀρθῶς βεβιωκόσι μετάστασίς ἐστιν ἐπὶ τὰ βελτίω, καὶ ἀποδημία πρὸς τὰ ἀμείνω, καὶ δρόμος πρὸς τοὺς στεφάνους. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τάφοι πρὸ τῶν πόλεων, τάφοι πρὸ τῶν ἀγρῶν, καὶ πανταχοῦ