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In sanctum Eustathium Antiochenum

ENCOMIUM To our father among the saints Eustathius, archbishop of Great Antioch.

50.597

αʹ. A certain wise man, one who knew how to philosophize, having learned with accuracy the nature of human affairs, and having recognized their unsoundness, and that they have nothing trustworthy, nor certain, advises all men in common not to call anyone blessed before death. Therefore, since the blessed Eustathius has died, we can now praise him with all freedom; for if one must not call anyone blessed before death, after death, the pronouncement of blessedness upon the worthy would be without risk. For he has passed through the Euripus of life's affairs, he is freed from the turmoil of the waves, he has sailed into the fair and tranquil harbor, 50.598.40 he is not subject to the uncertainty of the future, nor is he liable to a fall, but as if standing now upon some rock and high cliff, he laughs at all the waves. Therefore the pronouncement of blessedness is safe, the encomium is beyond reproach; for it does not fear change, it does not suspect a reversal.

For we who are still living, like those tossed in the midst of the sea, are subject to many changes; and just as they are now lifted up on high by the cresting waves, now they are carried down to the very deep; but neither is the height safe, nor is the lowliness permanent; for both these are of flowing 50.599 and not standing waters; so indeed also in human affairs nothing is certain and fixed, but the changes are frequent and swift-flowing. One is lifted up to the height by prosperity, another is brought down into great depth by misfortune; but let not that one be puffed up, nor this one be humbled; for each will receive a most swift change; but not he who has passed on to heaven, who has departed to the longed-for Jesus, who has come to a place free of turmoil, where pain and sorrow and sighing have fled away. There is no image of change there, there is no shadow of turning, but all things are fixed and immovable, all things are firm and established, all things are incorruptible and immortal, all things are pure and endure forever. For this reason he says, "Before death, call no one blessed." Why? For the future is uncertain, and nature is weak; the will is slothful, sin easily besets, the snares are many; "For know," he says, "that you walk in the midst of snares;" the temptations are successive, the crowd of affairs is great, and the war with demons is continuous, and the uprisings of the passions are constant; for these reasons, "Before death, call no one blessed," he says. Therefore, after death it is safe to call the worthy one blessed; or rather, not simply after death, but such a death, when one has ended his life with a crown, when with confession and unfeigned faith. For if someone has called blessed those who have simply died, how much more those who have died in this way? And who, you say, has called blessed those who have simply died? Solomon, that all-wise Solomon; for do not simply pass over the man, but consider who he was, and how he had lived, and with how much freedom and ease he lived his luxurious and untroubled life. For he pursued every kind of luxury, and devised all sorts of ways of amusement, and found various and manifold forms of pleasures, and recounting these things, he said: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself, I made gardens and parks for myself, I made pools of water for myself, I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house; I also had possessions of herds and flocks; I gathered silver and gold

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In sanctum Eustathium Antiochenum

ΕΓΚΩΜΙΟΝ Εἰς τὸν ἐν ἁγίοις πατέρα ἡμῶν Εὐστάθιον ἀρχιεπίσκοπον Ἀντιοχείας τῆς μεγάλης.

50.597

αʹ. Σοφός τις ἀνὴρ καὶ φιλοσοφεῖν εἰδὼς, τῶν ἀνθρω πίνων πραγμάτων τὴν φύσιν μετὰ ἀκριβείας κατα μαθὼν, καὶ ἐπιγνοὺς αὐτῶν τὴν σαθρότητα, καὶ ὡς οὐδὲν ἔχει πιστὸν, οὐδὲ βέβαιον, παραινεῖ κοινῇ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις πρὸ τελευτῆς μὴ μακαρίζειν μη δένα. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ τετελεύτηκεν ὁ μακάριος Εὐ στάθιος, μετὰ ἀδείας αὐτὸν ἁπάσης ἐγκωμιάσαι λοι πὸν δυνάμεθα· εἰ γὰρ πρὸ τελευτῆς οὐ δεῖ μακαρίζειν οὐδένα, μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν ἀνεύθυνος ἐπὶ τῶν ἀξίων ὁ μακαρισμὸς γένοιτ' ἄν. Καὶ γὰρ παρῆλθε τὸν εὔρι πον τῶν βιωτικῶν πραγμάτων, ἀπηλλάγη τῆς ταρα χῆς τῶν κυμάτων, πρὸς τὸν εὔδιον καὶ ἀτάραχον κατ 50.598.40 έπλευσε λιμένα, οὐχ ὑπόκειται τῇ τοῦ μέλλοντος ἀδηλίᾳ, οὐδέ ἐστιν ὑπεύθυνος καταπτώσει, ἀλλὰ καθάπερ ἐπὶ πέτρας τινὸς καὶ ὑψηλοῦ σκοπέλου νῦν ἑστὼς καταγελᾷ τῶν κυμάτων ἁπάντων. Οὐκοῦν ἀσφαλὴς ὁ μακαρισμὸς, ἀνεπίληπτον τὸ ἐγκώμιον· οὐ γὰρ δέδοικε μεταβολὴν, οὐχ ὑποπτεύει μετάπτωσιν.

Ἡμεῖς μὲν γὰρ οἱ ἔτι ζῶντες, καθάπερ οἱ ἐν μέσῳ πελάγει σαλεύοντες, πολλαῖς ὑποκείμεθα ταῖς μεταβολαῖς· καὶ καθάπερ ἐκεῖνοι νῦν μὲν εἰς ὕψος αἴρονται τῶν κυμάτων κορυφουμένων, νῦν δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν καταφέρονται τὸν βυθόν· ἀλλ' οὔτε τὸ ὕψος ἀσφαλὲς, οὔτε ἡ ταπείνωσις μόνιμος· ὑδάτων γάρ 50.599 ἐστι ῥεόντων καὶ οὐχ ἱσταμένων ταῦτα ἀμφότερα· οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων οὐδὲν βέβαιον καὶ ἑστὼς, ἀλλὰ πυκναὶ αἱ μεταβολαὶ καὶ ὀξύῤῥοποι. Ὁ μὲν ὑπὸ τῆς εὐημερίας πρὸς τὸ ὕψος ἐπήρθη, ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ δυσπραγίας εἰς πολὺ κατηνέχθη βάθος· ἀλλὰ μήτε ἐκεῖνος φυσάσθω, μήτε οὗτος τα πεινούσθω· ταχίστην γὰρ ἕκαστος δέξεται τὴν μετα βολήν· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐκεῖνος ὁ πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν μεταστὰς, ὁ πρὸς τὸν ποθούμενον ἀπελθὼν Ἰησοῦν, ὁ πρὸς χω ρίον ἐλθὼν καθαρὸν θορύβων, ἔνθα ἀπέδρα ὀδύνη καὶ λύπη καὶ στεναγμός. Οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκεῖ μεταβολῆς εἰ κὼν, οὐκ ἔστι τροπῆς ἀποσκίασμα, πάντα δὲ πεπη γότα καὶ ἀκίνητα, πάντα βέβαια καὶ ἱδρυμένα, πάντα ἄφθαρτα καὶ ἀθάνατα, πάντα ἀκήρατα καὶ εἰς ἀεὶ διαμένοντα. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησι, Πρὸ τελευτῆς μὴ μακάριζε μηδένα. ∆ιὰ τί; Ἄδηλον γὰρ τὸ μέλ λον, καὶ ἡ φύσις ἀσθενής· ἡ προαίρεσις ῥᾴθυμος, ἡ ἁμαρτία εὐπερίστατος, πολλαὶ αἱ παγίδες· Ἐπί γνωθι γὰρ, φησὶν, ὅτι ἐν μέσῳ παγίδων διαβαίνεις· ἐπάλληλοι οἱ πειρασμοὶ, πολὺς ὁ τῶν πραγμάτων ὄχλος, καὶ διηνεκὴς τῶν δαιμόνων ὁ πόλεμος, καὶ συνεχεῖς αἱ τῶν παθῶν ἐπαναστάσεις· διὰ ταῦτα, Πρὸ τελευτῆς μὴ μακάριζε μηδένα, φησίν. Οὐκοῦν μετὰ τελευτὴν μακαρίζειν ἀσφαλὲς τὸν ἄξιον· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐχ ἁπλῶς μετὰ τελευτὴν, ἀλλὰ τελευτὴν τοιαύτην, ὅταν μετὰ στεφάνου τὸν βίον ᾖ καταλύσας τις, ὅταν μετὰ ὁμολογίας καὶ πίστεως ἀνυποκρίτου. Εἰ γὰρ τοὺς ἁπλῶς τελευτήσαντας ἐμακάρισέ τις, πόσῳ μᾶλλον τοὺς οὕτω τελευτήσαντας; Καὶ τίς ἐμακάρισε, φησὶ, τοὺς ἁπλῶς τελευτήσαν τας; Ὁ Σολομὼν, Σολομὼν ἐκεῖνος ὁ πάνσοφος· μὴ γὰρ ἁπλῶς παραδράμῃς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλ' ἐννόησον τίς ἦν, καὶ πῶς βεβιωκὼς, καὶ μετὰ πόσης ἀδείας καὶ ἀνέσεως τὸν ὑγρὸν καὶ ἀταλαίπωρον βίον ἔζη. Ἅπαν γὰρ εἶδος ἐπῆλθε τρυφῆς, καὶ ψυχαγωγίας παντοδαποὺς ἐπενόησε τρόπους, καὶ ποικίλας καὶ πολυτρόπους τέρψεων εὗρεν ἰδέας, καὶ ταύτας δι ηγούμενος ἔλεγεν· Ὠκοδόμησά μοι οἴκους, ἐφύτευσά μοι ἀμπελῶνας, ἐποίησά μοι κήπους καὶ παρα δείσους, ἐποίησά μοι κολυμβήθρας ὑδάτων, ἐκτη σάμην δούλους καὶ παιδίσκας, καὶ οἰκογενεῖς ἐγένοντό μοι· κτῆσις βουκολίων καὶ ποιμνίων ἐγένετό μοι· συνήγαγον ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον