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from a man. Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner, much more from a demon; if from men Christ does not receive testimony, not even from John, much more from a demon. For preaching belongs not to men, but to the Holy Spirit. Since, then, they acted arrogantly, shouting, they thought they would terrify them by their outcry, saying: These men are throwing our city into confusion. What do you say? Do you believe the demon? Why not here also? That one says, that they are Slaves of the Most High God; you say, that They are throwing our city into confusion; that one says, that They are proclaiming to us a way of salvation; you say, They are delivering to us customs, which it is not lawful to receive. See how they pay attention not even to the demon, but look to one thing, the love of money. And they dragged them, it says, into the marketplace to the rulers; and the crowd rose up together against them. See how they neither answer nor defend themselves, so that they may become worthy of greater wonder. For when, it says, I am weak, then I am strong. My grace is sufficient for you; for my power is made perfect in weakness. So that they ought to have been admired for their gentleness. The stricter the watch becomes, the more glorious the miracle. Perhaps they did this, wishing to cut off the conspiracy. When they saw the crowd standing by, they wished for the time being to stop their anger with the blows, but by casting them into prison and ordering them to be kept securely, they wished to hear of the matter. And he made them secure, it says, in the stocks, as one might say, In the nerve. Of how many tears are these things now worthy? They indeed suffered what they suffered, but we are in luxury, we are in the theaters. Whence we are also perishing, and are being submerged, seeking ease everywhere, and not enduring to be grieved even to the point of reproach for Christ's sake, not even to the point of a word. Let us continually remind ourselves of these things, I beseech you, of what they suffered, what they endured, how they were not troubled, how they were not made to stumble. They were doing the work of God, and were suffering these things. They did not say, Why do we preach this, and God does not protect us? But this too benefited them, and apart from the help, the thing itself made them more energetic, stronger, fearless. Affliction, he says, produces endurance. Let us not then seek the soft and dissolute life. For just as here the good is twofold, that they become strong and that the rewards are great, so there the evil is twofold, that they become softer and that it is for no good purpose, but even for an evil one. For nothing could be more useless than a man who spends all his time in ease and luxury. For a man, it says, untested, is also unapproved; unapproved, not in these struggles, 60.256 but also in all others. Ease is a useless thing, and in luxury itself nothing is so unsuitable as living luxuriously; for it is surfeiting. Neither is the pleasure of food so great, nor that of ease, but all things fade and flow away. Let us not then seek this. For if we shall be willing to consider who lives more pleasantly, the one who labors and endures hardship or the one who lives in luxury; we shall find it is the former. For in the first place, the very body of such a person is enervated and bloated; then also the senses of the body are not pure nor healthy, but languid and soft; and when these are not so, not even the pleasure of health is apparent. What kind of horse is useful, the one living in luxury or the one being trained? What kind of ship, the one sailing or the one idle? What kind of water, that which is running or that which is standing still? What kind of iron, that which is in motion or that which is not worked? Does not the one shine, and resemble silver, while the other is everywhere rusted over, being useless, and losing some of its own substance? Something of this kind also happens in the case of an idle soul; a kind of rust is poured over it, and it eats away both its brightness and all other things. With what then might one wipe off this rust? With the whetstone of tribulations; these make the soul useful and fit in all things. For how, tell me, will it be able to cut away the passions, when its edge has been blunted, and bends back like lead? How will it wound the devil? And to whom is a man not disagreeable who practices excessive fleshiness, like a seal

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παρὰ ἀνθρώπου Οὐχ ὡραῖος ὁ αἶνος ἐν τῷ στόματι ἁμαρτωλοῦ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον παρὰ δαίμονος· εἰ παρὰ ἀνθρώπων τὴν μαρτυρίαν οὐ λαμβάνει ὁ Χριστὸς, οὐδὲ παρὰ Ἰωάννου, πολλῷ μᾶλλον παρὰ δαίμονος. Τὸ γὰρ κηρύττειν οὐκ ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ Πνεύματος ἁγίου. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἀλαζονικῶς ἐποίουν βοῶντες, τῇ κραυγῇ καταπλήξειν ἐνόμισαν, λέγοντες· Οὗτοι οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἐκταράσσουσιν ἡμῶν τὴν πόλιν. Τί λέγεις; πείθῃ τῷ δαίμονι; διὰ τί οὐχὶ καὶ ἐνταῦθα; Ἐκεῖνος λέγει, ὅτι ∆οῦλοι τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου· σὺ λέγεις, ὅτι Ἐκταράσσουσιν ἡμῶν τὴν πόλιν· ἐκεῖνος λέγει, ὅτι Καταγγέλλουσιν ἡμῖν ὁδὸν σωτηρίας· σὺ λέγεις, Παραδιδόασιν ἡμῖν ἔθη, ἃ οὐκ ἔξεστι παραδέχεσθαι. Ὅρα οὐδὲ τῷ δαίμονι αὐτοὺς προσέχοντας, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἓν ὁρῶντας, τὴν φιλαργυρίαν. Εἵλκυσάν τε αὐτοὺς, φησὶν, εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας· καὶ συνεπέστη ὁ ὄχλος κατ' αὐτῶν. Ὅρα αὐτοὺς οὐκ ἀποκρινομένους οὐδὲ ἀπολογουμένους, ἵνα μείζονος ἄξιοι θαύματος γένωνται. Ὅταν γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀσθενῶ, τότε δυνατός εἰμι. Ἀρκεῖ σοι ἡ χάρις μου· ἡ γὰρ δύναμίς μου ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τελειοῦται. Ὥστε καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπιεικείας θαυμασθῆναι αὐτοὺς ἐχρῆν. Ὅσῳ ἀκριβεστέρα ἡ φυλακὴ γίνεται, τοσούτῳ τὸ θαῦμα λαμπρότερον. Ἴσως τὴν σύστασιν ἐκκόψαι βουλόμενοι τοῦτο ἐποίουν ἐκεῖνοι. Ἐπειδὴ εἶδον τὸν ὄχλον ἐφεστῶτα, ταῖς μὲν πληγαῖς τὸν θυμὸν τέως στῆσαι ἐβούλοντο, τῷ δὲ εἰς δεσμωτήριον ἐμβαλεῖν καὶ παραγγεῖλαι ἀσφαλῶς τηρεῖν, ἀκοῦσαι ἤθελον τοῦ πράγματος. Καὶ ἠσφαλίσατο, φησὶν, εἰς τὸ ξύλον, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, Εἰς τὸν νέρβον. Πόσων δακρύων τὰ νῦν ἄξια; Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἔπαθον ὅσα καὶ ἔπαθον, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐν τρυφῇ, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐν θεάτροις. Ὅθεν καὶ ἀπολλύμεθα, καὶ καταποντιζόμεθα, ἄνεσιν ζητοῦντες πανταχοῦ, καὶ οὐδὲ μέχρις ὀνειδισμοῦ διὰ τὸν Χριστὸν ἀνεχόμενοι λυπηθῆναι, οὐδὲ μέχρι λόγου. Τούτοις συνεχῶς ἀναμιμνήσκωμεν ἑαυτοὺς, παρακαλῶ, ὅσα ἔπαθον, ὅσα ὑπέμειναν, πῶς οὐκ ἐθορυβοῦντο, πῶς οὐκ ἐσκανδαλίζοντο. Τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔργον ἐποίουν, καὶ ταῦτα ἔπασχον. Οὐκ ἔλεγον, Τί τοῦτο κηρύττομεν, καὶ οὐ προΐσταται ἡμῶν ὁ Θεός; Ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο αὐτοὺς ὠφέλει, καὶ χωρὶς τῆς βοηθείας αὐτῷ τῷ πράγματι εὐτονωτέρους ἐποίει, ἰσχυροτέρους, ἀκαταπλήκτους. Ἡ θλῖψις, φησὶν, ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται. Μὴ δὴ τὸν ὑγρὸν καὶ διακεχυμένον ζητῶμεν βίον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα διπλοῦν τὸ καλὸν, ὅτι τε ἰσχυροὶ γίνονται καὶ ὅτι μεγάλοι οἱ μισθοὶ, οὕτως ἐκεῖ διπλοῦν τὸ κακὸν, ὅτι τε μαλακώτεροι καθίστανται καὶ ὅτι ἐπ' οὐδενὶ χρηστῷ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ κακῷ. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἀχρηστότερον ἀνθρώπου γένοιτ' ἂν ἐν ἀνέσει καὶ τρυφῇ τὸν ἅπαντα διατελοῦντος χρόνον. Ἀνὴρ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀπείραστος, καὶ ἀδόκιμος· ἀδόκιμος, οὐκ ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι τού 60.256 τοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἅπασιν. Ἄχρηστον πρᾶγμα ἡ ἄνεσις, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ τρυφῇ οὐδὲν οὕτως ἀνεπιτήδειον, ὡς τὸ τρυφᾷν προσκορὲς γάρ ἐστιν. Οὔτε σιτίων ἡδονὴ τοσαύτη, οὔτε ἀνέσεως, ἀλλὰ πάντα ἐξίτηλα γίνεται καὶ διαῤῥεῖ. Μὴ δὴ ταύτην ἐπιζητῶμεν. Εἰ γὰρ σκοπεῖν θελήσομεν τίς ἥδιον διάγει, ὁ πονούμενος καὶ ταλαιπωρούμενος ἢ ὁ τρυφῶν· τοῦτον μᾶλλον εὑρήσομεν. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τοῦ τοιούτου τὸ σῶμα αὐτὸ ἔκλυτον καὶ πεπλαδηκός· ἔπειτα καὶ αἱ τοῦ σώματος αἰσθήσεις οὔκ εἰσιν εἰλικρινεῖς οὐδὲ ὑγιεῖς, ἀλλὰ χαῦναι καὶ μαλακαί· τούτων δὲ οὐκ οὐσῶν, οὐδὲ τῆς ὑγιείας ἡδονὴ φαίνεται. Ποῖος ἵππος χρήσιμος, ὁ τρυφῶν ἢ ὁ γυμναζόμενος; ποία ναῦς, ἡ πλέουσα ἢ ἡ ἀργοῦσα· ποῖον ὕδωρ, τὸ τρέχον ἢ τὸ ἑστώς; ποῖος σίδηρος, ὁ κινούμενος ἢ ὁ μὴ ἐργαζόμενος; οὐχ ὁ μὲν ἀπολάμπει, καὶ ἀργύρῳ προσέοικεν, ὁ δὲ κατίωται πανταχοῦ ἄχρηστος ὢν, καὶ τῆς ὕλης ἀπολλύς τι τῆς οἰκείας; Τοιοῦτόν τι γίνεται καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀργούσης ψυχῆς· ἰός τις αὐτῆς καταχεῖται, καὶ τρώγει τήν τε λαμπρότητα καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα. Τίνι οὖν ἄν τις τοῦτον ἀποσμήξειε τὸν ἰόν; Τῇ τῶν θλίψεων ἀκόνῃ· αὗται χρήσιμον ἐργάζονται τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν ἐπιτηδείαν. Πῶς γὰρ, εἰπέ μοι, δυνήσεται τὰ πάθη τέμνειν, τῆς ἀκμῆς ἀμβλυνθείσης, καὶ μολύβδου δίκην ἐπανακαμπτομένης; πῶς τὸν διάβολον τρώσει; Τίνι δὲ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀηδὴς ἄνθρωπος πολυσαρκίαν ἀσκῶν, φώκης