265

having put away with its deeds and desires, let us walk worthily of God, who has called us into His own kingdom and glory; having put on bowels of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering; bearing with one another in love, and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another, just as the Lord also forgave us, and above all these things the bond of perfection, love and peace, to which we were also called in one body; and, to speak concisely, the new man, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. For by so living, we would be able to come to the end of the divine promises, with good hope; and to be filled with the knowledge of His will, and bearing fruit in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, and growing in the knowledge of the Lord; being strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, for all edification and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has made us worthy for the share of the inheritance of the saints in light.

(712) And a clear proof of this grace is, the voluntary disposition of good will toward one’s kind; whose work it is, like God, to appropriate according to one’s ability the person who needs any of our help; and not to allow him to be neglected and uncared for; but with fitting zeal to show in deed the living disposition within us toward both God and neighbor. For the deed is the proof of the disposition. For nothing is so easy for righteousness, nor so suitable for deification (so to speak) and nearness to God, as mercy from the soul offered to those in need with pleasure and joy. For if the Word showed that the one needing to be treated well is God. For "inasmuch as you have done it," He says, "to one of the least of these, you have done it to Me"; and God who said this, will all the more show that the one who is able to do good and does it is truly God by grace and participation, as one who has in a well-imitated manner taken up His energy and property of beneficence. And if the poor man is God, on account of the condescension of God who became poor for our sake, and who sympathetically receives upon Himself the sufferings of each, and until the consummation of the age, according to the analogy of the suffering in each, is always mystically suffering out of goodness; much more, it is clear, according to probable reason, will he be God, who in imitation of God, out of love for mankind, divinely heals the sufferings of the afflicted through himself; and is shown to have by disposition the same power as God, in proportion to His saving providence.

Who then is so slow and sluggish toward virtue, as not to desire godhead, when its acquisition is so cheap, and so easily obtained, and so easy? And a safe and inviolable guard of these things, and an easy path to salvation is: without which, I think, in truth none of the good things will be kept harmlessly for the one who has them; minding one's own business, or rather, doing one's own business, by which, learning to look at and consider only our own affairs, we are freed from having harm from others in vain. For if we learn to see and examine only ourselves, we will never attack the affairs of others, however they may be; knowing the one only judge, both wise and just, God, who judges all things that happen wisely and justly; according to the reason for which it has happened, but not according to the manner in which it has been manifested; which perhaps men might also be able to judge, looking dimly at the appearance; concerning which is not at all the truth, nor the reason of things that happen. But God, the hidden movement of the soul, and the unseen impulse, and the reason itself according to which the soul was moved, and the purpose of the reason; that is, seeing the pre-conceived end of every matter, judges (716) justly, as I said, all things that

265

ἀποθέμενοι σύν ταῖς πράξεσιν αὐτοῦ και ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, ἀξίως τοῦ Θεοῦ περιπατήσωμεν, τοῦ καλέσαντος ἡμᾶς εἰς τήν αὐτοῦ βασιλείαν καί δόξαν· ἐνδυσάμενοι σπλάγχνα οἰκτιρμοῦ, χρηστότητα, ταπεινοφροσύνην, πραΰτητα, μακροθυμίαν· ἀνεχόμενοι ἀλλήλων ἐν ἀγάπῃ, καί χαριζόμενοι ἑαυτοῖς ἐάν τις πρός τινα ἔχῃ μομφήν, καθώς καί ὁ Κύριος ἐχαρίσατο ἡμῖν, ἐπί πᾶσί τε τόν σύνδεσμον τελειότητος, τήν ἀγάπην καί τήν εἰρήνήν, εἰς ἥν καί ἐκλήθημεν ἐν ἑνί σώματι· καί, ἵνα συνελών εἴπω, τόν νέον ἄνθρωπον, τό ἀνακαινούμενον εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν κατ᾿ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτόν. Οὕτω γάρ ἄν βοιοῦντες, δυνηθείημεν πρός τό τέλος ἐλθεῖν τῶν θείων ἐπαγγελιῶν, μετ᾿ ἐλπίδος ἀγαθῆς· πληρωθῆναί τε τήν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ, καί πάσῃ σοφίᾳ καί συνέσει πνευματικῇ καρποφοροῦντες, καί αὐξανόμενοι τῇ ἐπιγνώσει Κυρίου· ἐν πᾶσῃ δυνάμει δυναμούμενοι κατά τό κράτος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ, εἰς πᾶσαν οἰκοδομήν καί μακροθυμίαν μετά χαρᾶς, εὐχαριστοῦντες τῷ Πατρί, τῷ ἱκανώσαντι ἡμᾶς εἰς τήν μερίδα τοῦ κλήρου τῶν ἁγίων ἐν τῷ φωτί.

(712) Σαφής δέ τῆς χάριτος ταύτης ἐστίν ἀπόδειξις, ἡ πρός τό συγγενές δι᾿ εὐνοίας ἑκούσιος συνδιάθεσις· ἧς ἔργον ἐστίν, ὡς Θεόν, οἰκειοῦσθαι κατά δύναμιν τόν καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν τῆς ἡμῶν ἐπικουρίας δεόμενον ἄνθρωπον· καί μή ἐᾷν ἀτημέλητον καί ἀπρονόητον· ἀλλά σπουδῇ τῇ πρεπούσῃ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἐνδείκνυσθαι ζῶσαν τήν ἐν ἡμῖν πρός τε τόν Θεόν καί τόν πλησίον διάθεσιν. Ἔργον γάρ ἀπόδειξις διαθέσεως. Οὐδέν γάρ οὔτε πρός δικαιοσύνην οὕτω ῥᾴδιόν ἐστιν, οὔτε πρός θέωσιν (ἵν᾿ οὕτως εἴπω) καί τήν πρός Θεόν ἐγγύτητα καθέστηκεν ἐπιτήδειον, ὡς ἔλεος ἐκ ψυχῆς εἰς τούς δεομένους μεθ᾿ ἡδονῆς καί χαρᾶς προσφερόμενος. Εἰ γάρ Θεόν ὁ Λόγος τόν εὖ παθεῖν δεόμενον ἔδειξεν. Ἐφ᾿ ὅσον γάρ ἐποιήσατε, φησίν, ἑνί τούτων τῶν ἐλαχίστων, ἐμοί ἐποιήσατε· Θεός δέ ὁ εἰπών, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τόν εὖ ποιεῖν δυνάμενον καί ποιοῦντα, δείξει ἀληθῶς κατά χάριν καί μέθεξιν ὄντα Θεόν, ὡς τήν αὐτοῦ τῆς εὐεργεσίας εὐμιμήτως ἀνειλημμένον ἐνέργειάν τε καί ἰδιότητα. Καί εἰ Θεός ὁ πτωχός, διά τήν τοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς πτωχεύσαντος Θεοῦ συγκατάβασιν, καί εἰς ἑαυτόν ἑκάστου συμπαθῶς ἀναδεχομένου πάθη, καί μέχρι τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος, κατά τήν ἀναλογίαν τοῦ ἐν ἑκάστῳ πάθους, ἀεί δι᾿ ἀγαθότητα πάσχοντος μυστικῶς· πλέον δηλονότι κατά τόν εἰκότα λόγον ἔσται Θεός, ὁ κατά μίμησιν τοῦ Θεοῦ διά φιλανθρωπίαν τά τῶν παθόντων πάθη δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ θεοπρεπῶς ἐξιώμενος· καί τήν αὐτήν τῷ Θεῷ, κατά ἀναλογίαν τῆς σωστικῆς προνοίας, κατά διάθεσιν ἔχων δεικνύμενος δύναμιν.

Τίς οὖν ἄρα πρός ἀρετήν οὕτω βραδύς ἐστι καί δυσκίνητος, ὥστε μή ἐφίεσθαι θεότητος, οὕτως εὐώνου τε καί εὐπορίστου καί ῥᾳδίας οὔσης τῆς κτήσεως; Ἀσφαλής δέ τούτων ἐστί καί ἄσυλος φυλακή, καί εὐμαρής πρός σωτηρίαν ὁδός· ἧς, οἶμαι, χωρίς κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν οὐδέν ἔσται τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀβλαβῶς τῷ ἔχοντι συντηρούμενον· ἡ αὐτοπραγία, εἴτουν ἴδιοπραγία, δι᾿ ἧς τά καθ᾿ ἑαυτούς σκοπεῖν τε καί διασκέπτεσθαι μόνους μανθάνοντες, τοῦ παρ᾿ ἄλλων διακενῆς βλάβην ἔχειν ἐλευθερούμεθα. Εἰ γάρ ἑαυτούς μόνους ὁρᾷν τε καί ἐτάζειν μάθοιμεν, οὐδέποτε τοῖς τῶν ἄλλων, ὡς δ᾿ ἄν ἔχοντα τύχωσιν, ἐπιθησόμεθα· γινώσκοντες ἕνα μόνον κριτήν σοφόν τε καί δίκαιον τόν Θεόν, τό σοφῶς τε καί δικαίως πάντα τά γινόμενα κρίνοντα· καθ᾿ ὅν γεγένηται λόγον, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ καθ᾿ ὅν πεφανέρωται τρόπον· ὅν ἴσως ἄν δύναιντο καί ἄνθρωποι κρίνειν, ἀμυδρῶς εἰς τό φαινόμενον βλέποντες· περί ὅ οὐ πάντως ἐστίν ἡ ἀλήθεια, οὐδέ τῶν γινομένων ὁ λόγος. Ὁ δέ Θεός, τό ἀφανές τε κίνημα τῆς ψυχῆς, καί τήν ἀόρατον ὁρμήν, καί τόν λόγον αὐτόν, καθ᾿ ὅν ὥρμηται ἡ ψυχή, καί τόν τοῦ λόγου, σκοπόν· τουτέστι, τό παντός πράγματος προεπινοούμενον τέλος βλέπων, κρίνει (716) δικαίως, ὡς ἔφην, πάντα τά