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a birth to be conceived of. For that which Adam (I speak of the birth from the Spirit unto deification), by willingly neglecting, was condemned to be born bodily unto corruption, this He, as good and loving man, by His will having become man in our transgression, and willingly condemning Himself with us, the only free and sinless one, and accepting the birth from bodies, in which was the power of our condemnation, He mystically set right the birth in the Spirit, and having loosed in Himself on our behalf the bonds of bodily birth, He has given us the power through birth according to the Spirit, according to His will, to become children of God instead of flesh and blood, for those who believe in His name. Therefore, the incarnation and bodily birth first attended the Lord on account of my condemnation, and thus the birth in the Spirit through baptism, which had been omitted, followed, for the sake of my salvation and restoration by grace, or to speak more clearly, my re-creation; as God was uniting in me both the principle of my being and that of my well-being, and joining the cut and separation of these made by me, and through these wisely driving me towards the principle of ever-being, according to which there is no longer for man to bear and be borne, since the economy of phenomena concerning what is borne has received its end through the great and common resurrection, which begets man unto immortality (1349) in an unchangeable existence, for whose sake the nature of phenomena received its being according to generation, and with whom it will receive by grace the not being corrupted in essence. But if it seems good, let us briefly recall the power of what has been said, and summarize. We have the birth from bodies of our Savior, divided conceptually into the preceding principle of nature and into the one now existing again according to us, in which he died, and again into the natural principle of generation and into the mode of generation, and further still, into the different modes of the essential generation of the soul and of the body, and in addition to these, into the conception without seed and the birth without corruption. It is therefore up to you, as just judges, to approve the better of the stated concepts.

By the same author, from the same discourse, on the text, "Why do you seek medicines, that will profit nothing? Why a critical sweat, when perhaps the final departure is at hand?"

This saying, as the blessed elder said, the teacher set forth against those who postpone baptism, those who postpone baptism for the sake of love of pleasure in the hope of living, and he says, "Why must you learn of your departure from another—that is, from life—and not rather consider it as already at hand? Why do you seek medicines, that will profit nothing? Why a critical sweat, when perhaps the final departure is at hand?" For since the sons of physicians say that there are four critical days in fevers, the 4th, and the 7th, and the 9th, and the 11th, and perhaps also the 13th (for on these days if they find the body of the sick person, as they say, moistened with sweat, they take it as proof that the patient will live), therefore, lest the sick man, expecting this sweat, should with ill counsel postpone baptism, having a period of years, the teacher very wisely advises the one who is weary not to trust in this sweat and lean on it in vain, since it is possible that in its place the final sweat might occur, which proclaims the end of the present life, so that, as I said, the sick man, being deceived by this sweat, might not unconsciously be alienated from the manifest and divine life which abides forever, while being found clinging to the human and mortal life which will surely be dissolved,

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ἐπινοηθῆναι γεννήσεως. Ὅπερ γάρ ὁ Ἀδάμ (λέγω δέ τήν εἰς θέωσιν ἐκ πνεύματος γέννησιν) ἑκουσίως παραλιπών γεννᾶσθαι σωματικῶς εἰς φθοράν κατεκρίθη, τοῦτο κατά θέλησιν ὡς ἀγαθός καί φιλάνθρωπος ἐν τῷ ἡμῶν παραπτώματι γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, καί συγκατακρίνας ἡμῖν ἑαυτόν ἑκουσίως, ὁ μόνος ἐλεύθερος καί ἀναμάρτητος, καί τήν ἐκ σωμάτων γεννηθῆναι καταδεξάμενος γέννησιν, ἐν ᾗ τό κράτος ὑπῆρχε τῆς ἡμῶν κατακρίσεως, τήν ἐν πνεύματι μυστικῶς διωρθώσατο γέννησιν, καί τῆς σωματικῆς γεννήσεως λύσας ὑπέρ ἡμῶν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τά δεσμά δέδωκεν ἡμῖν ἐξουσίαν διά τῆς κατά πνεῦμα γεννήσεως κατά θέλησιν, τέκνα Θεοῦ ἀντί σαρκός καί αἵματος γενέσθαι τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τό ὄνομα αὐτοῦ. Σάρκωσις οὖν καί σωματική πρότερον τῆς ἐμῆς ἕνεκα κατακρίσεως ἐπί τοῦ Κυρίου παρηκολούθησε γέννησις, καί οὕτως ἡ διά τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἐν πνεύματι παραλειφθεῖσα ἐπηκολούθησε γέννησις, ὑπέρ τῆς ἐμῆς κατά χάριν σωτηρίας καί ἀνακλήσεως, ἤ σαφέστερον εἰπεῖν ἀναπλάσεως· οἷα συνάπτοντος περί ἐμέ τοῦ Θεοῦ τόν τε τοῦ εἶναί μου λόγον καί τόν τοῦ εὖ εἶναι, καί τήν γενομένην παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ τούτων ἑνοποιοῦντος τομήν καί διάστασιν, καί διά τούτων πρός τόν τοῦ ἀεί εἶναι λόγον σοφῶς συνελαύνοντος, καθ᾿ ὅν οὐκέτι τό φέρειν ἔστι καί φέρεσθαι περί τόν ἄνθρωπον, λαβούσης τέλος περί τό φέρεσθαι τῆς τῶν φαινομένων οἰκονομίας διά τῆς μεγάλης καί κοινῆς ἀναστάσεως, εἰς ἀθανασίαν (1349) γεννώσης τόν ἄνθρωπον καθ᾿ ὕπαρξιν ἀναλλοίωτον, δι᾿ ὅν τῶν φαινομένων ἡ φύσις τό εἶναι κατά γένεσιν εἴληφε, καί μεθ᾿ οὖ λήψεται χάριτι τό κατ᾿ οὐσίαν μή φθείρεσθαι. Ἀλλ᾿ εἰ δοκεῖ τῶν εἰρημένων κατ᾿ ἐπιτομήν ἐπιμνησθέντες τήν δύναμιν, κεφαλαιώσωμεν. Ἔχομεν τήν ἐκ σωμάτων γέννησιν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν κατ᾿ ἐπίνοιαν διαιρεθεῖσαν εἰς τόν προηγούμενον τῆς φύσεως λόγον καί εἰς τόν νῦν αὖθις ὑπάρχοντα καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς, εἰς ὅν ἐτελεύτησε, καί πάλιν εἰς τόν κατά φύσιν τῆς γενέσεως λόγον καί εἰς τόν τῆς γενέσεως τρόπον, προσέτι γε μήν καί εἰς διαφόρους τρόπους τῆς κατ᾿ οὐσίαν γενέσεως τῆς ψυχῆς καί τοῦ σώματος καί προσεπιτούτοις εἰς τήν ἄνευ σπορᾶς σύλληψιν καί τήν ἄνευ φθορᾶς γέννησιν. Ἐφ᾿ ὑμῖν οὖν ἐστιν ὡς κριταῖς δικαίοις τῶν λελεγμένων ἐπιβολῶν ἐγκρῖναι τήν κρείττονα.

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό, "Τί φάρμακα ἐπιζητεῖς, τά μηδέν ὀνήσοντα; τί κριτικόν ἱδρῶτα, ἴσως παρεστῶτος τοῦ ἐξοδίου; "

Τοῦτο, καθώς ἔφασκεν ὁ μακάριος γέρων, πρός τούς ὑπερτιθεμένους τό βάπτισμα, τό ῥητόν τέθεικεν ὁ διδάσκαλος, ἐλπίδι τοῦ ζήσεσθαι τό βάπτισμα φιληδονίας ἕνεκεν ὐπερτιθεμένους, καί φησι, "Τί παρ' ἄλλου δέῃ μαθεῖν τήν ἔξοδον, τοῦ βίου δηλονότι, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὡς ἤδη παρούσης διανοήσῃ; Τί φάρμακα ἐπιζητεῖς, τά μηδέν ὀνήσοντα; τί κριτικόν ἱδρῶτα, ἴσως παρεστῶτος τοῦ ἐξοδίου;" Ἐπειδή γάρ τέσσαρας ἡμέρας κρισίμους εἶναί φασιν ἰατρῶν παῖδες ἐν τοῖς πυρεκτιῶσι, τήν δ΄, καί τήν ζ´, καί τήν θ´, καί τήν ια´, τυχόν δέ καί τήν ιγ´, (ἐν ταύταις γάρ ἄν εὕρωσιν ἐν τῷ νοσοῦντι, καθώς φασι, νενοτισμένον ἐξ ἱδρῶτος τό σῶμα τεκμηριοῦσι ζήσειν τόν κείμενον), ἵνα οὖν μή τοῦτον ἐκδεχόμενος ὁ νοσῶν τόν ἱδρῶτα κακοβούλως ὑπερτίθεται τό βάπτισμα, περίοδον ἔχειν ἐτῶν, συμβουλεύει πάνυ σοφῶς ὁ διδάσκαλος τῷ κάμνοντι, μή τούτῳ τῷ ἱδρῶτι θαῤῥεῖν καί μάτην ἐρείδεσθαι, δυνατοῦ ὄντος ἀντί τούτου τόν ἐξόδιον ἱδρῶτα συμβῆναι, τόν βοῶντα τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς τό τέλος, ἵνα μή, ὡς εἶπον, διά τοῦτον ἀπατώμενος ὁ νοσῶν τόν ἱδρῶτα τῆς μέν προδήλου καί θείας ζωῆς καί ἀεί διαμενούσης ἀλλοτριούμενος λάθῃ, τήν δέ ἀνθρωπίνην καί ἐπίκηρον καί πάντως λυθησομένην εὑρεθῇ περιέπων,