Exhortation to Martyrdom 37

So we must neither deny the Son of God nor be ashamed of him or of those who belong to him or of his words, but we must listen to this: “Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father in heaven”; and this: “For whoever is ashamed of me and of mine, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and that of the Father and of the holy angels”; and this: “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of the Father with the holy angels.” And Jesus once “endured the cross, despising the shame,” and for this reason “sat down at the right hand” of God; and his imitators too, despising shame, will sit with him and reign with him in heaven—with him who came not to bring “peace on earth” but to bring it upon the souls of his disciples, and to bring “a sword on the earth.” For since “the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart,” he now above all rules our souls with the peace that surpasses all understanding, which he left to his apostles, while he has thrust a sword between the image of the man of dust and that of the heavenly man; so that for the present he may take to himself our heavenly part, and afterwards, when we have become worthy not to be cut in two, make us wholly heavenly. And he came to bring on the earth not a “sword” only but also “fire,” of which he says, “I would that it were already kindled!” Let this fire, then, be kindled in you too, consuming every earthly and body-loving thought of yours; and the baptism by which Jesus was constrained “until it was accomplished,” be baptized with it now with all eagerness. And you who have “wife and children and brothers and sisters,” remember this: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, he cannot be my disciple”; and both of you remember this: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate,” besides the former things, “even his own soul, he cannot be my disciple.” But hate your own souls in such a way that by hating them you keep them for eternal life; “for he who hates,” he says, “his own soul in this world will keep it for eternal life.” So hate your soul for the sake of eternal life, persuaded that the hatred Jesus teaches us to feel is a good and useful hatred. And just as we must hate our soul in order that it may be kept for eternal life, so you who have “wife and children and brothers and sisters,” hate them, so that you may benefit those you hate by the very fact of having hated them, gaining boldness to do them good by becoming a friend of God.