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carrying it united, and gradually growing old and being dissolved and wasting away, if the soul was not destined to be released and separated from this, but was eternally bound to it, how would this life not be worse than every other punishment in Hades? Look at those who are possessed by the sacred (391) disease, how their flesh is corrupted and consumed, how they are without hands, and feet, and eyes, and lips, and noses, and ears, how they are completely immobile, how both mute and deaf with unutterable voices they call upon God to be released from this flesh. For if it were thus allotted for ages, so that I may say it again, would not living have been worse than dying? Thus then the punishment has become a good deed, or rather, not a punishment, but a divine economy. For the death of men is the death of things; death is a release from cares, death is freedom from all sorts of diseases and passions, death is the cutting off of sins and injustice, death is a release from all the evils of life, and for those who have lived well, it is the cause of unceasing joy and of eternal delight and of the unsetting light. Nevertheless, before being separated from the body, I say to you, (392) look at the good deeds, look at the economies, learn of my gifts. I have revealed to the world

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περιφέρων ἡνωμένον, κατ᾿ ὀλίγον τε γηράσκον καί λυόμενον καί ῥέον, εἰ μή ἔμελλε λυθῆναι τούτου τε καί χωρισθῆναι ἡ ψυχή, ἀλλ᾿ αἰωνίως ἦν συνδεδεμένη τούτῳ, πῶς οὐ χείρων πάσης ἄλλης τιμωρίας τῆς ἐν ᾅδη αὕτη ἡ ζωή ὑπῆρχε; Βλέπε μοι τούς ὑπό νόσου (391) ἱερᾶς κατεχομένους, πῶς αἱ σάρκες αἱ ἐκείνων φθείρονται καί δαπανῶνται, πῶς χειρῶν, ποδῶν τε δίχα καί ὀμμάτων καί χειλέων καί ῥινῶν εἰσι καί ὤτων, πῶς ἀκίνητοι εἰς ἅπαν, πῶς καί ἄλαλοι κωφοί τε ταῖς φωναῖς ταῖς ἀλαλήτοις τόν Θεόν ἐπικαλοῦνται ταύτης τῆς σαρκός λυθῆναι. Εἰ γάρ οὕτως εἰς αἰῶνας, ἵνα πάλιν εἴπω, εἶναι ἐκληρώσατο, οὐ χεῖρον τοῦ θανεῖν τό ζῆν ὑπῆρξε; Οὕτως οὖν εὐεργεσία γέγονεν ἡ τιμωρία, μᾶλλον δέ οὐ τιμωρία, ἀλλ᾿ οἰκονομία θεία. Ὁ γάρ θάνατος ἀνθρώπων θάνατος πραγμάτων πέλει˙ θάνατος φροντίδων λύσις, θάνατος ἐλευθερία νόσων καί παθῶν παντοίων, θάνατος ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκκοπή καί ἀδικίας, θάνατος ἀπαλλαγή τε τῶν κακῶν τοῦ βίου πάντων, τοῖς βιώσασι καλῶς δέ πρόξενος χαρᾶς ἀλήκτου καί τρυφῆς τῆς ἀϊδίου καί φωτός τοῦ ἀνεσπέρου. Ὅμως πρό τοῦ χωρισθῆναι ἐκ τοῦ σώματος, σοί λέγω, (392) βλέπε τάς εὐεργεσίας, βλέπε τάς οἰκονομίας, μάνθανε τάς δωρεάς μου. Ἐφανέρωσα τῷ κόσμῳ