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Adversus oppugnatores vitae monasticae

AGAINST THOSE WHO WAGE WAR ON THOSE WHO ARE DRAWN TO THE MONASTIC LIFE

47.319 1. When the children of the Hebrews, having returned from their long captivity, wished to raise the temple in Jerusalem, which had lain on the ground for many years, then indeed certain barbarians and savage men, neither revering God, for whom they were raising the temple, nor being moved by the calamity of the people, from which they had late and with difficulty recovered, nor fearing the justice from God that follows those who dare such things, at first attempted by themselves to hinder them from building; but when they accomplished nothing, having sent letters to their king, in which they called that city rebellious and revolutionary and warmongering, they persuaded him to permit them to stop the building. And having received this authority from him, and having attacked them with many horsemen, they both interrupted the work for a time, and were greatly proud of their victory, for which they ought to have been cut down, and they thought their plot had reached its end. This, then, was a prelude and beginning of the evils that would very soon overtake them. For the work was both accomplished and received a splendid conclusion; and they learned, and through them everyone, that they were not, then, warring against men, neither Mithridates then, nor anyone else, who chooses to war against men who resolve to do some good, but rather against God Himself, who is honored through them. But it is never possible for one who wars against God to come to a good end; but such a one, at the beginning of his audacity, will perhaps suffer nothing terrible, and if he does not suffer, it is God calling him to repentance, and giving him a chance to recover as from a kind of drunkenness; but if he persists in his drunken violence, gaining nothing from such great forbearance, he will at least profit others greatly, by teaching them through the punishment inflicted on him never to engage in the battle against God, as it is not possible to escape that invincible hand. At any rate, such disasters immediately overtook them, as to hide by the magnitude of the tragedy all other disasters. For after the murders and the myriad 47.320 slaughters which the hands of the then-hindered Jews wrought upon them, the earth was soaked to a great depth with the blood of the slain, and much mud was made from this blood; and with the bodies of both horses and men mingled together, from these and from the wounds festering among them such a multitude of worms was born, that the earth was hidden by the multitude of the dead, and they themselves in turn by the multitude of the worms. One might have said, upon seeing that field, not that bodies of the dead lay beneath, but that there were many springs, and that they brought forth that kind of creature from many places; so more violently than any flood the swarm of worms gushed forth from that decay. And this happened not for ten or twenty days only, but for a long time. And such were the things here; but the things that will receive them there are much harder than these. For not for a thousand years, nor for ten thousand only, nor for twice or three times as many, but for infinite ages the ensouled bodies then receive those torments and unspeakable pains. And both of these things blessed Isaiah knows, and Ezekiel, the seer of wondrous visions, knows, who, having divided the punishment of these men between them, the one related that which is here, and the other that which is there. 2. But I have not mentioned them now without purpose, but because someone came and reported to us a certain bitter and grievous message, and one containing much insolence toward God. For there are some men even now who the same things as the barbarians

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Adversus oppugnatores vitae monasticae

ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΟΛΕΜΟΥΝΤΑΣ ΤΟΙΣ ΕΠΙ ΤΟ ΜΟΝΑΖΕΙΝ ΕΝΑΓΟΥΣΙΝ

47.319 αʹ. Ὅτε τὸν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις νεὼν πολλῶν ἐτῶν χαμαὶ κείμενον ἀπὸ τῆς

μακρᾶς ἐπανελθόντες αἰχμαλωσίας ἐγείρειν ἤθελον τῶν Ἑβραίων οἱ παῖδες, τότε δὴ βάρβαροί τινες καὶ ἀνήμεροι ἄνθρωποι, μήτε τὸν Θεὸν αἰδεσθέντες, ᾧ τὸν νεὼν ἤγειραν ἐκεῖνοι, μήτε πρὸς τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατακλασθέντες συμφορὰν, ἀφ' ἧς ὀψέ ποτε καὶ μόλις ἀνήνεγκαν, μήτε τὴν παρὰ Θεοῦ τοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα τολμῶσιν ἑπομένην φοβηθέντες δίκην, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον δι' ἑαυτῶν ἐπεχείρουν κωλύειν οἰκοδομοῦντας αὐτούς· ὡς δὲ οὐδὲν ἤνυον, γράμματα πέμψαντες ὡς βασιλέα τὸν αὐτῶν, ἐν οἷς ἀποστάτην καὶ νεωτεροποιὸν καὶ φιλοπόλεμον τὴν πόλιν ἐκάλουν ἐκείνην, ἔπεισαν ἐπιτρέψαι κωλῦσαι σφίσι τὴν οἰκοδομήν. Καὶ λαβόντες ταύτην παρ' ἐκείνου τὴν ἐξουσίαν, καὶ μετὰ πολλῶν αὐτοῖς ἐπιθέμενοι τῶν ἱππέων, διέκοψάν τε τὸ ἔργον τέως, καὶ ἐφρόνουν ἐπὶ τῇ νίκῃ μέγα, ἐφ' ἧς κατακόπτεσθαι ἔδει, καὶ πέρας αὐτοῖς ἔχειν ᾤοντο τὴν ἐπιβουλήν. Τόδε ἦν ἄρα προοίμιον καὶ ἀρχὴ τῶν αὐτίκα δὴ μάλα αὐτοὺς καταληψομένων κακῶν. Τό τε γὰρ ἔργον ἠνύετο, καὶ λαμπρὸν ἀπελάμβανε τέλος· ἐκεῖνοί τε ἐμάνθανον, καὶ δι' ἐκείνων ἅπαντες, ὅτι οὐκ ἄρα ἀνθρώποις ἐπολέμουν, οὔτε Μιθριδάτης τότε, οὐδὲ ἄλλος οὐδεὶς, ὃς ἂν ἀνθρώποις ἕληται πολεμεῖν ἀγαθόν τι προαιρουμένοις ποιεῖν, ἀλλ' αὐτῷ πρὸ ἐκείνων τῷ δι' ἐκείνων τιμωμένῳ Θεῷ. Τὸν δὲ Θεῷ πολεμοῦντα οὐκ ἔνι ποτὲ εἰς χρηστὸν καταστρέψαι τέλος· ἀλλ' ὁ τοιοῦτος ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν τῆς τόλμης οὐδὲν ἴσως πείσεται δεινὸν, ἂν δ' ἄρα μὴ πάθοι, τοῦ Θεοῦ καλοῦντος αὐτὸν εἰς μετάνοιαν, καὶ διδόντος ὥσπερ ἔκ τινος μέθης ἀνενεγκεῖν· ἂν δὲ ἐπιμένῃ τῇ παροινίᾳ, μηδὲν ἀπὸ τῆς τοσαύτης ἀνεξικακίας κερδαίνων, ἑτέρους γοῦν ὀνήσει τὰ μέγιστα, διὰ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν τιμωρίας παιδεύων μηδέποτε τῆς πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἅπτεσθαι μάχης, ὡς οὐκ ἐνὸν τὴν ἀήττητον ἐκείνην χεῖρα διαφυγεῖν. Τοιαῦται γοῦν εὐθέως αὐτοὺς κατελάμβανον συμφοραὶ, ὡς ἀποκρύψαι τῷ μεγέθει τῆς τραγῳδίας πάσας τὰς ἄλλας συμφοράς. Μετὰ γὰρ τοὺς φόνους καὶ τὰς μυρίας 47.320 σφαγὰς ἃς αἱ τῶν τότε κωλυομένων Ἰουδαίων εἰς αὐτοὺς εἰργάσαντο χεῖρες, ἐβρέχετο μὲν τῷ τῶν ἀνῃρημένων αἵματι διὰ πολλοῦ τοῦ βάθους ἡ γῆ, καὶ πολὺς ἀπὸ τούτου τοῦ αἵματος ἐγίνετο πηλός· τῶν δὲ σωμάτων τῶν τε ἱππείων τῶν τε ἀνθρωπίνων ὁμοῦ πεφυρμένων, ἐκ τούτων καὶ τῶν ἐν τούτοις προστριβομένων ὠτειλῶν τοσοῦτον σκωλήκων ἐτίκτετο πλῆθος, ὡς τὴν μὲν γῆν τῷ πλήθει κρύπτεσθαι τῶν νεκρῶν, τούτους δὲ αὐτοὺς πάλιν τῷ τῶν σκωλήκων. Εἶπεν ἄν τις, ἐκεῖνο τὸ πεδίον ἰδὼν, οὐ σώματα κάτωθεν ὑποκεῖσθαι νεκρῶν, ἀλλὰ πηγὰς εἶναι πολλὰς, καὶ πολλαχόθεν ἐκεῖνο φερούσας τῶν ζώων τὸ γένος· οὕτω πάσης ἐπιῤῥοπῆς σφοδρότερον ἀπὸ τῆς σηπεδόνος ἐκείνης ἀνέβλυζεν ἡ τῶν σκωλήκων φορά. Τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἐπὶ δέκα καὶ εἴκοσιν ἡμέραις ἐγίνετο μόνον, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ πολλῷ τῷ χρόνῳ. Καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐνταῦθα τοιαῦτα· τὰ δὲ ἐκεῖ διαδεξόμενα αὐτοὺς, πολλῷ τούτων ἐστὶ χαλεπώτερα. Οὐ γὰρ εἰς χίλια ἔτη, οὐδὲ εἰς μύρια μόνον, οὐδὲ εἰς δὶς τοσαῦτα, καὶ τρὶς, ἀλλ' εἰς ἀπείρους αἰῶνας ψυχωθέντα τὰ σώματα, τότε δέχεται τὰς βασάνους καὶ τὰς ἀῤῥήτους ἀλγηδόνας ἐκείνας. Καὶ ταῦτα ἀμφότερα οἶδε μὲν ὁ μακάριος Ἡσαΐας, οἶδε δὲ ὁ τῶν παραδόξων ὄψεων θεωρὸς Ἰεζεκιὴλ, οἳ καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τούτων διανειμάμενοι τὴν κόλασιν, ὁ μὲν τὴν ἐνταῦθα, ὁ δὲ τὴν ἐκεῖ διηγήσατο. βʹ. Ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτῶν οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἐμνημόνευσα νῦν, ἀλλ' ἐπειδή τις ἐλθὼν ἡμῖν ἀπήγγειλεν ἀγγελίαν πικράν τινα καὶ χαλεπὴν, καὶ πολλὴν εἰς τὸν Θεὸν τὴν ὕβριν ἔχουσαν. Εἶναι γάρ τινας ἀνθρώπους καὶ νῦν τὰ αὐτὰ τοῖς βαρβάροις