Religious History 31
Greek text: PG 82.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).
Chapter 31
31PG 82
Ἤλιίχοι μὲν οἱ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀθληταὶ, καὶ ὅσοις οἵοις στεφάνοις λαμπρύνονται, σαφῶς διδάσκει τὰ περὶ αὐτῶν συγγραφέντα ἡμῖν διηγήματα. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μὴ πάντας αὐτῶν περιέχει τοὺς ἄθλονς, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπόχρη καὶ τὰ ὀλίγα παντὸς τοῦ βίου δεῖξαι τὸν χαρακτῆρα. Καὶ γὰρ τὸν χρυσὸν οὐκ ἅπαντα τὸν προσφερόμενον δαπανῶσα ἡ λίθος, ἀλλ᾽ ὀλίγῳ τινὶ προστριθομένη δόκιμον ἣ ἀδόκιμον δείκνυσι " καὶ. τὸν τοξότην δὲ ὡσαύτως ἐξ ὀλίγων ἀφιεμένων βελῶν χκαταμάθο: ἄν τις ἀχριθῶς, εἴτε ἄριστα τοξεύοι κατὰ σκοποῦ βάλλων, εἴτε ἔξω φέροιτο, τὴν τέχνην οὖκ ἡσχημένος. Οὕτω καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τεχνίτας, ἵνα μὴ καθ᾽ ἕχαστον λέγω, δυνατὸν διαγνῶναι, καὶ δρομέας, καὶ τραγῳδίας ὑποκριτὰς, καὶ χυδερνῆτας, καὶ ναυπηγοὺς, καὶ ἰατροὺς, καὶ γηπόνους, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀπαξαπλῶς, ὅσοι τινὰ μεταχειρίξουσι τέχνην" Β ἱκανὴ γὰρ ὀλίγη πεῖρα καὶ τῶν ἐπιστημόνων ἐπιδεῖξαι τὴν τέχνην, καὶ τῶν ὀνόματι μόνῳ χρωμένων ἐλέγξαι τὴν ἀμαθίαν. ᾿Απόχρη τοίνυν, ὡς ἔφην, καὶ τὰ ὀλίγα συγγραφέντα τῶν ἑκάστῳ χατωρθωμένων, πᾶσαν διδάξαι τὴν τοῦ βίου προαίρεσιν. Προσήκει δὲ ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος, ἐρευνῆσαι, καὶ ζητῆσαι, καὶ καταμαθεῖν ἀχριδῶς, πόθεν ὁρμώμενοι τήνδε τὴν πολιτείαν ἢσπάσαντο, καὶ ποίοις χρώμενοι λογισμοῖς, αὐτὴν χατέλαδου τῆς φιλοσοφίας τὴν κορυφὴν " ὅτι γὰρ οὐ τῇ ῥώμῃ θαῤῥοῦντες τοῦ σώματος, τῶν ὑπὲρ τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν ἡράσθησαν, καὶ τοὺς ταύτῃ κειμένους ὑπερέδησαν νόμους, καὶ ετ ἐδησα) σχάμματα, σαφὴς ἣ πεῖρα διδάσκαλος. Οὐδεῖς γὰρ τῶν τῆς φιλοσοφίας ταύτης ἀμοίρων, τὴν πούτων χαρτεμίαν ἐπεδείξατο πώποτε. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ νέξονται ποιμένες, ἀλλ᾽ οὖκ ἀεί" καὶ ἄντροις γὰρ χρῶνται, καὶ εἰς τὰς οἰκίας ἐπανιᾶσι, καὶ ὑποδήμασι δὲ τοὺς πόδας χαλύπτουσι, καὶ ἐσθήμασι μοτ-έροις τὰ ἄλλα μέρη τοῦ σώματος περιδάλλουσι " καὶ δὶ;, καὶ τρὶς τῆς ἡμέρα;, τάχα δὲ καὶ τετράχις, ματα" ὅταν γὰρ ἡ τοιαύτη τροφὴ τὴν ἀλλοίωτιν δέξηται, καὶ οἷον ἰθμῷ τινι διαχριθεῖσα, καὶ τὸ ἧπαρ χαταλαθδοῦσα, τὴν εἰς αἷμα μεταθολὴν ὑπομείνῃ, χωρεῖ μὲν εἰς τὴν καρδίαν διὰ τῆς κοίλης φλεθός" ἐχθερμαθεῖσα δὲ, ἐκεῖθεν, οἷον διά τινων ὀχετῶν τοῦ σώματος μόρια" οὗ δ᾽ ἂν ἀφίκηται, οὐκ ἄρδει μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πυρὸς δίκην ἐχθερμαίνε:, καὶ τῶν μαλακῶν ἱματίων ἄμεινον περιθάλπει τὸ σῶμα. Οὐ γὰρ, ὥς τινες ὑπολαμδάνουσι, χιτῶνες, καὶ ἀμπεχόναι, καὶ ἐφεστρίδες, τῷ σῤώματι τὴν θέρμην παρ: ἐχουσιν" ἣ γὰρ ἂν, καὶ ξύλα, καὶ λίθους ἐθέρμαναν, οἷς ἂν ἐπέλασαν " ἀλλ᾽ οὐδεὶς ἐθεάσατο πώποτε, ἣ ξύλον, ἣ λίϑον, θερμότερον ὑπὸ ἱματίων γεγενημένον. Οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ τῷ σώματι ταῦτα παρέχει τὴν θέρμην " ἀλλὸ τοῦ σώματος ταῦτα φυλάττει τὴν θέρ- Β μην" καὶ ἀπείργει μὲν τοῦ ψυχροῦ ἀέρος τὴν πρ.:- Θολὴν " ὑποδεχόμενα δὲ τοὺς ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἐξιόντας ἀτμοὺς, καὶ θερμαίνεται τούτοις, καὶ θερμότερα προσβάλλει τῷ σώματι. Καὶ μάρτυς ἣ πεῖρα" ψυχρᾷ γὰρ πολλάκις τῇ κλίνῃ προσθάλλοντες͵ τῇ ποῦ σώματος ὁμιλίᾳ θερμὴν τὴν πρὸ βραχέος ψυχρὰν ἀποτελοῦμεν στρωμνήν. Οὐκοῦν ἣ τροφὴ παὺτὸς ἱματίου πλέον διαθερμαίνει τὸ σῶμα οἱ δὲ ταύτης εἰς χόρον μεταλαμδάνοντες, ἔρυμα ἔχουτιν ἀρκοῦν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ζουσι γὰρ ταύτῃ τὸ σῶμα, καὶ ἀντέχειν πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην τοῦ ἕτους παρασχενάζουδιν ὥραν. Οἱ δὲ μῆτε σιτίων, μήτε ποτῶν, καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἀπολαύοντες τὴν ἡμέραν, καὶ ἡνίκα δ᾽ ἂν ἀπολαύουσι, οὐ τὸν κόρον ἀναμένοντες, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὄρεξιν ἀχμάζουδαν δυναμένων τὸ σῶμα, ἀλλ᾽ ἣ ποηφαγοῦντες τοῖ; ἀλόγοις παραπλησίως, ἣ διαδρόχοις ὁσπρίοις χρώμενοι μόνοις, ποῖον ἂν ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης τρυφῆς ἀρύσαιντο θάλπος; πόση δ' ἂν ἐντεῦθεν, ἢ τοί λιδὰς αἵματος γένοιτο; Κατ’ οὐδὲν τοίνυν ἔοικε τὰ τῶν ἄλλων τοῖς τούτων ἐπιτηδεύμασιν. Οὐτε γὰ ἐσθὴς ἡ αὑτὴ τούτων κἀκείνων “ τραχυτάτη γὰρ ὁμοία, ἀλλ᾽ ἐναντία ἐκ διαμέτρου. Ποιμέσι μὲν γὰρ. καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς τοιούτοις, τροφῆς καιρὸς ἅπας καιρός " τῇ ὀρέξει γὰρ ὁρίζονται τὸν καιρὸν, κϑν ἕωθεν ἡ πεῖνα προσδάλλῃ, παραυτίκα προσφέρουσι τὴν τροφήν" καὶ προσφέρουσιν ὅτι ἂν τύχῃ᾽ Ὁ γὰρ ὥρισται, τοῦτο μὲν ἐσθίειν, ἐκεῖνο δὲ ἤκιστα, ἀλλὰ πάντων ὧν ἂν ἐθέλωσιν, ἀδεῶς ἀπολαύουσιν. Ἐνταῦθα δὲ καὶ ἡμέραι, καὶ καιροὶ, χα; εἴδη τῆς τροφῆς, καὶ μέτρα" καὶ χόρος ταύτης νος. Μηδεὶς τοίνυν ἡμῖν τῶν μεμψιμοίρων, νους, καὶ ποιμένας, καὶ ναύτας προφέρων εἰς μέσον, τῶν τοὺς ἀγῶνας. Ὃ τε γὰρ γηπόνος, μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν καμὼν, οἴκοι θεραπεύεται νύκτωρ, πᾶσαν αὐτῷ θεραπείαν τῆς ὀμοξύγου ποριζούσης. Καὶ ὁ ποιμὴν δὲ ὡσαύτως μεταλαγχάνει πάντων ἐχείνων, ὧν προεἰρήκαμεν" ὁ δὲ ναύτης δέχεται μὲν τὴν ἀκτῖνα κατὰ τοῦ σώματος " ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων θερᾶπείαν προσφέρει πῷ σώματι" ἐπινήχεται γὰρ ὅδον βούλεται, καὶ τῇ φλογὶ τῆς ἀκτῖνος ἀλεξιφάρμεχον προοφέρει τὴν τῶν ὑδάτων ψυχρότητα. Οὗτοι δὲ θεραπείας μὲν οὐδεμιᾶς παρ᾽ οὐδενὸς ἀπολαύουσιν, Οὐ γὰρ συνοιχοῦσι γυναῖκες, αἵ τοῖς ἀνδράσι παντοδαπὴν μηχανῶνται παραψυχῆν. Οὔτε δὲ τῆς ἀκτῖνος θερμότερον προπθαληύσης, τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων φψυγαγωγίαν προσφέρονται" οὐ χειμῶνος ὥρᾳ τὴν τροφὴν ἀντιτάττουσ' τῷ χρυμῷ, οὔτε τῆς νυκτὸς τὴν ἀνάπαυλαν, οἷόν τι φάρμακον, τοῖς μεθημερινοῖς προσφέρουσι πόνοις " καὶ μείζους γὰρ, καὶ πλείου;, οἱ ταύτης τῶν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ γιγνομένων ἱδρώπων. Ἐν ταύτῃ γὰρ, καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸν ὕπνον ἀναδέχονται πάλην, καὶ τῆς γλυκείας ἐκείνης οὐκ ἀνέχονται ἥττης " ἀλλὰ τῆς ἡδίστης περιγίνονται «υραννίδος, καὶ παννύχιοι διατελοῦσι τὸν Δεσπότην ὑμνοῦντες, Οὐδεὶς τοίνυν τῶν ἔξω τῆς τούτων φιλοσοφίας, τὴν τούτων ἐπιδέδεικται καρτερίαν. Εἰ δὲ μηδεὶς τῶν ἄλλων ἀνθρώπων ἀντισχεῖν πρὸς τοὺς τοιούτους πόνους δεδύνηται, δῆλον ὡς ὁ περὶ τὸν Θ:ὸν ἔρως ὑπερδῆναι τοὺς τῆς φύσεως παρεσκεύασεν ὄρους " καὶ τῷ ἄνωθεν πυρσῷ πυρπολούμενοι, φέρουσιν ἀσπασίως τὴν τοῦ χρυμοῦ προσδολὴν, καὶ τῇ ἐντεῦθεν δρόσῳ, τὴν τῆς ἀκτῖνος χαταπραῦνουσι φλόγα. Οὗτος αὑτοὺς καὶ τρέφει, καὶ ἄρδει, καὶ περιθάλλει, καὶ πτερὰ δίδωσι, καὶ πέτεσθαι διδά» σχει, καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ὑπερθαίνειν παρασκευάζει, καὶ τὸν ἐρώμενον ὡς δυνατὸν ἐπιδείκνυσι, καὶ τῇ «ἧς θεωρίας φαντασίᾳ πυρσεύει τὸν πόθον, καὶ διἐγείρει τὸ φίλτρον, καὶ σφοδροτέραν ἐξάπτει τὴν φλόγα. Καθάπερ γὰρ οἱ τῶν σωμάτων ἑρῶντες, ὕλην ἀπὸ τῆς θέας τῶν ἐρωμένων τῷ φίλτρῳ πορί- ζουσι, καὶ τὸν οἶστρον ἐκεῖνον χαλεπώτερον ἀπεργάζονται " οὕτως οἱ τῆς θείας ἀγάπης τὰ κέντρα δεχόμενοι, τὸ θεῖον ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἀκήρατον φανταζόμενοι κάλλος, ὀξυτέρας τῆς ἀγάπης τὰς ἀχίδας ἐργάζονται, καὶ ὅσῳ πλέον ἀπολαῦσαι ποθοῦσι, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον τὸν κόρον ἐλαύνουσι. Τῇ μὲν γὰρ ἡδονῇ τῶν σωμάτων ἀκολουθεῖ πλησμονὴ, ὁ δὲ θεῖος ἔρως τοῦ κόρου τοὺς νόμους οὐ δέχεται. Τοιοῦτος ἦν Μωῦσῆς ὁ μέγας νομοθέτης " ὃς πολλάκις, ὡς ἐφικτὸν ἀνθρώπῳ,, τῆς θείας θεωρίας ἀξιωθεὶς, καὶ πολλάκις τῇ; μακαρίας ἀπολαύσας φωνῆς, καὶ τεσσαράχοντα κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἡμέρα; εἴσω τοῦ γνόφου γενόμενος, καὶ τὴν θείαν νομοθεσίαν δεξάμενος, οὐ μόνον χόρον οὐκ ἔλαδεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σφοδροτέραν καὶ θερμοτέραν τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐκτήσατο. Καθάπερ γάρ τινα κάρον ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ ἔρωτος ἐχείνου δεξάμενος μέθης, καὶ τῷ φίλτρῳ λίαν ἐχθαχχευθεὶς, τὴν μὲν οἰκείαν ἠγνόησε: φύσιν, ἐπεθύμησε δὲ ἰδεῖν, ἃ μὴ θέμις ἰδεῖν " ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐπιλαθόμενος τῆς δεσποτείας, καὶ τὸ φίλτρον λογιζόμενος μόνον, ἔφη πρὸς τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεόν" « Ἰδοὺ, σὺ λέγεις μοι" Εὗρες χάριν παρ᾽ ἐμοὶ, καὶ οἷδά σε παρὰ πάντας. Εἰ τοίνυν εὗρον χάριν ἐναντίον συ, ἐμφάνιτόν μοι σεαυτόν " γνωστῶς ἴδω σε. » Τοιλύτην ἀπὸ τῆς θείας ἀγάπης ἐδέξατο μέθην, καὶ ἡ μέθη τὸ δίγος οὐκ ἔπεσεν, ἀλλὰ σφοδρότερον ἀπειργάδατο. Καὶ ἡ προσθέχη τῆς πόσεως, ἐπίτασις ἐγένετο τῆς ἐφέσεως, καὶ τὴν ὄρεξιν γδξτσεν ἡ ἀπόλαυσις. Καὶ καθάπερ τὸ πῦρ, ὅσῳ πλείονα τροφὴν ὑποδέχεται, τοσούτῳ μείζονα τὴν ἐνέργειαν δείκνυσιν (αὔξεται γὰρ αὕτη τῇ προσθήκῃ τῆς ὕλης, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἀμόλύνεται)" οὕτως ἡ πρὸς Θεὸν ἀγάπη «τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῶν θείων πυρσεύεται, καὶ σφοδροτέραν ἐκεῖθεν, καὶ θερμοτέραν τὴν ἐνέργειαν ὑποδέχεται. Καὶ ὅσῳ ἄν εις πλέον τοῖς θείοις ἐνδιατρίψῃ, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον ἐξάπτει τῆς ἀγάπης τὴν φλόγα. Καὶ τοῦτο ἡμᾶς οὐ μόνον ὁ μέγας ἐδίδαξε Μωῦσῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἢ ἁγία νύμφη, περὶ ἧς ὁ θεσπέσιος λέγει Παῦλο;" ε Ἡρμοσάμην ὑμᾶς ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ παρθένον ἀγνὴν παραστῆσαι τῷ Χριστῷ. » Αὕτη γὰρ ἐν τῷ “Δσματι τῶν ἀσμάτων πρὸς τὸν νυμφίον βοᾷ " ε« Δεῖξόν μοι τὴν ὄψιν σου, καὶ ἀχούτισόν μοι τῆς φωνῆς σου, ὅτι ἡ φωνή σου ἡδεῖα, καὶ ἡ ὄψις σου ὡραῖα. » Ἐκ γὰρ Β τῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγων δεξαμένη τὸν ἔρωτα, οὐκ ἀρχεῖται τοῖς λόγοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτῇς ἱἐπαχοῦσκι ποθεῖ τῆς φωνῆς. Καὶ πτερωθεῖσα τοῖς περὶ τῖς ὥρας αὐτοῦ διηγήμασι, καὶ αὐτῆς ἐφίεται τῆς θεωρίας, ταῖς εἰρημέναις εὐφημίαις τὸ φίλτρον σημαίϑουσα. « Δεῖξήόν μοι, φησὶ, τὴν ὄψιν σου, καὶ ἀχούτισόν μοι τῆς φωνῆής σου, ὅτι ἡ φωνή σου ἡδεῖα, καὶ ἡ ὄψις σου ὡραῖα. » Τούτον τοῦ κάλλους καὶ ὁ ταύτης προμνήστωρ καὶ ννμφοστόλος ἐρασθεὶς, ὁ θεσπέσιος, φημὶ, Παῦλος, τὴν ἐρωτικὴν ἐχείνην ἀφῆκε φωνήν" «Τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίδει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ; Θλίψις, ἣ στενοχωρία, ἣ λιμὸς, ἢ διωγμὸς, ἥ γυμνότης, ἣ κίνδυνος, ἢ μάχαιρα; καθὼς γέγραπται" ὅτι ἕνεκά σου θανατούμεθα ὅλη» τὴν ἡμέραν, ἐλογίσθημεν ὡς πρόδατα σφαγῆς. ν Εἶτα καὶ τῆς καρτερίας ὑποδείκνυσι τὴν αἰτίαν. ε« Ἔν τούτοις γὰρ, φησὶ, πᾶσι ὑπερνικῶμεν διὰ τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντος ἡμᾶς Θεοῦ. » Σχοπούμενοι γὰρ τίνες ὄντε: πίνων ἀπηλαύσαμεν ἀγαθῶν, καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἡμεῖς ἡγαπήσαμεν πρῶτοι, ἀλλ᾽ ἀγαπηθέντες πήσαμεν" καὶ μισοῦντες ἡγαπήθημεν, καὶ ἐχθροὶ ὄντες χατηλλάγημεν " οὐκ αὐτοὶ τυχεῖν τῶν διαλλαγῶν ἱχετεύσαντες, ἀλλὰ τὸν Μονογενῆῇ δεξάμεναι παρακληθέντες; καὶ πρὸς τούτοις λογιζόμενοι τὸν ζωοποιὸν σταυρὸν, τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν σταυρωθέντα, τὰ σωτήρια πάθη, τοῦ θανάτου τὴν παῦλαν, τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐλπίδα. Ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα σχοπούμενοι τῶν προσπιξτόντῶν ἡμῖν περιγινόμεθα σκυθρωπῶν, καὶ τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν τὴν μνήμην παρατιθέντες τῇ προσχαέρῳ θείᾳ τοῦ σώματος, φέρομεν ἀσπασίως τὴν τῶν ἀνιχρῶν προσδολῆν. ᾿Αντιταλαντεύοντες γὰρ τῷ περὶ τὸν Δεσπότην φίλτρῳ πάντα τὰ τοῦ βίου λυπηρὰ, κοῦφα λίαν εὑρίσκομεν. Κἂν τὰ τερπνὰ δὲ ἅπαντα καὶ θυμήρη δοκοῦντα κατὰ ταυτὸν συναγάγωμεν, ἀντισταθμώμενος ὁ θεῖος πόθος, σκιᾶς ἀδρανέστερα, χεὶ ἀνθέων ἑἐαρινῶν εὐφθαρτότερα δείκνυσι. Ταῦτα καὶ διὰ τῶν εἰρημένων, καὶ διὰ τῶν λεχθησομένων, σημαίνει σαφῶς. ε Πέπεισμαι γὰρ, φησῖν, ὅτι οὔτε θάνατος, οὔτε ζωὴ, οὔτε ἄγγελοι, οὔτε ἀρκαὶ, οὔτι δυνάμεις, οὔτε ἐνεστῶτα, οὔτε μέλλοντα, οὔτε ὕψω- μα, οὔτε βάθος, οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα, δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν. ν Ἐπειδῇ γὰρ ἄνω τὰ σκυθρωπὰ μόνα τεθεικὼς, παρεξήτασε θλῖψιν, καὶ στενοχωρίαν, καὶ διωγμὸν, καὶ λιμὸν, καὶ γυμνότητα, καὶ κίνδυνον, καὶ μάχαιραν, τουτέστι τὴν βιαίαν σφαγήν " εἰκότως ἐνταῦθα, καὶ τὰ θυμήρη προτίθησι τοῖς ἀλγεινοῖς, τῷ θανάτῳ τὴν ζωὴν, τὰ νοητὰ «οἷς αἰσθητοῖς, τοῖς ὁρωμένοις τὰς ἀοράτους δυνάμεις, τοῖς παροῦσι καὶ παριοῦσι τὰ μέλλοντά τε καὶ τὰ μένοντα " πρὸς τούτοις, τῆς γεέννης τὸ βάθος, καὶ τῆς βασιλείας τὸ ὕψος. Ταῦτα δὲ πάντα παρεξετάσας, καὶ εὑρὼν ἅπαντα τῷ φίλτρῳ παραχωροῦντα, καὶ τὰ λυπηρὰ καὶ τὰ θυμήρη, καὶ τῆς ἀγάπης τὴν στέρησιν τῆς ἐν γεέννῃ κολάσεως πικροτέραν " καὶ δείξας ὡς, εἴπερ οἷόν τε ἦν, εὔλετο ἂν μετὰ τῆς θείας ἀγάπης τὴν ἐπειλημένην κόλασιν, ἢ δίχα ταύτῆς τὴν ἐπηγγελμένην τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείαν, μεθύων τῷ πόθῳ τὰ μὴ ὑφεστῶτα ζητεῖ, καὶ ταῦτα συγχρῖνα: τῷ θείῳ φίλτρῳ φιλονειχεῖ. ε« Οὔτε ὕψωμα γὰρ, φησὶν, οὔτε βάθος, οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα δυνήσεται ἡ λᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν. ν Οὐ γὰρ μόνον, φησὶ, πάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν ὁρωμένων καὶ ἀοράτων τὸ περὶ τὸν Σωτῆρα καὶ Λυτρωτὴν προτίθημι φίλτρον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴ τις ἑτέρα κτίσις ταύτης καὶ μείζων καὶ καλλίων ἀναφανείη, οὐ πείσει! με τὴν ἀγάπην ἀλλάξασθαι" ᾿Αλλὰ κἂν τὰ θυμήρη τις παράσχῃ δίχα ταύτης, οὐ δέξομαι - κἂν ἐπαγάγῃ διὰ ταύτην τὰ σκυθρωπὰ, ἑπέραστά μοι φανεῖται, καὶ λίαν ἐράσμια " καὶ ὁ διὰ ταύτην λιμὸς πάσης μοι τρυφῆς θυμηρέστερος, καὶ εἰρήνης ἡδίων ὁ διωγμὸς, καὶ ἡ γυμνότης ἁλουργίδος καὶ χρυσοπάστων ἱματίων χαριεστέρα " καὶ ὁ κίνδυνος πάσης ἀδείας γλυχύτερος, καὶ ἢ βιαία σφαγὴ πάτης αἱρετωτέρα ζωῆς. Ἡ γὰρ αἰτία τῶν παθῶν, ψυχαγωγία μοι γίνεται. Διὰ γὰρ τὸν ἐραστὴν ὁμοῦ καὶ ἐρώμενον δέχομαι τὰς τούτων νιφάδας. ε Τὸν γὰρ μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς γενώμεθα θεοῦ δικαιοσύνη ἐν αὐτῷ. ---- -Ὃς πλούσιος ὧν δι᾽ ἡμᾶς ἐπτώχευσεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς τῇ ἐχείνου πτωχείᾳ πλουτήσωμεν,» Καί " « Ἐξηϊόρασεν ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς κατάρας τοῦ νόμου, γένόμενος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα. » Καί " « Ἐταπείνωσεν ἑαυτὸν, γενόμενος ὑπήκοος μέχρι θανάτου, θανάτου δὲ σταυροῦ. » Καί ε« "Ἔτι ἁμαρτωλῶν ὄντων ἡμῶν, Χρι: στὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀπέθανε. » Ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα λογιζόμενος, οὐκ ἂν δεξαίμην τὴν τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείαν, δίχα τῆς περὶ τούτων ἀγάπης " οὐκ ἂν φύγοιμι τὴν ἐν γεέννῃ τιμωρίαν, εἴπερ εἰκὸς ἦν τὸν ταύτην ἔχουτα κόλασιν ὑπομένειν. Τοῦτο καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ διδάσκει σαφῶς " « Ἧ Ὑὰρ ἀγάπη τοῦ Θεοῦ συνέχει ἡμᾶ:, κρίναντας τοῦτο, ὅτι εἷς ὑπὲρ πάντῶν ἀπέθανεν, ἵνα οἱ ζῶντες, μηκέτι ἑαυτοῖς ζῶσιν, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὑπὶρ αὐτῶν ἀποθανόντι καὶ ἀναστάντι. » ΟἹ τοίνυν μὴ ἑχυτοῖς ζῶντες, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν ἀποθανόντι καὶ ἀναστάντι, πάντα ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ καὶ δρᾶσαι καὶ παθεῖν ἀσμένως ἀνέχονται. Καὶ τὰ τῇ φύσει δὲ μεγάλα, καὶ χαλεπὰ παθήματα, τῷ φῶντρι» συγκρίνων, μικρὰ λέγει καὶ εὔφορα. ε« Τὸ γὰρ παραὐτίκα, φησὶν, ἐλαφρὸν τῆς θλίψεως ἡμῶν, καθ᾽ ἐργάζεται ἡμῖν. Εἶτα καὶ πῶ: δεῖ συγκρίνειν δ:δάσκει" « Μὴ σκοπούντων ἡμῶν τὰ βλεπόμενα, ἀλ᾽ τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα " τὰ γὰρ βλεπόμενα πρόσκαιρα" τὰ ὃὲ μὴ βλεπόμενα αἰώνια. » Προσήκε: γὰρ, φττὶ, παρατιθέναι τοῖς μὲν παροῦσι τὰ μέλλοντα, τοῖς ξὲ προσκαίροις τὰ αἰώνια, τῇ δὲ θλίψει τὴν δόξαν ᾿ ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἔχει τὸ παραυτίκα, ἣ δὲ τὸ αἰώνιον “ τούτου χάριν αὕτη μὲν κούφη καὶ εὔφορος, ἐκείνη δὲ πολυτελῆς τε καὶ βαρύτιμος. Ταύτῃ δὴ καὶ τὸ χαϑ᾽ ὑπερδολὴν ἀμφοτέροις προστέθεικε, καὶ τῷ ἐλαφοῷ τῇ: Β θλίψεως, καὶ τῷ βάρει τῆς δόξης, Καὶ ταῦτα γὰρ, φησὶν, ὑπερδαλλόντως καὶ σμικρὰ, καὶ κοῦφα, πρότχαιρα " κακεῖνα ὡσαύτως μεθ᾽ ὑπερδολῖς ξ»δοξα, καὶ πολυτελῆ, καὶ βαρύτιμα, καὶ αἰώνια. Κιὶ τέρωθει ὁμοίως βοᾷ ε« Εὐδοχῶ ἐν ἀσθενεέαις, ἐν ὕδρεσιν, ἐν ἀνάγκαις, ἐν διωγμοῖς, ἐν ἀχαταστασίαις ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ. Ὅταν γὰρ ἀσθενῶ, τότε δυνατός εἰμι. » Τούτῳ καὶ ὁ μέγα; Πέτρος τετρωμένος τῷ πόθῳ, ξατο " ἀλλ᾽ ἄμεινον ὑπέλαδεν ἑπόμενος ἀρνηθῆναι, ἣ φεύγων ὁμολογῆσαι. Ὅτι γὰρ ἔρωτος ἣν, καὶ οὐ θρασύτητος, ἡ ἀχολούθησις ἔκγονος, τὰ πράγματι ς μαρτυρεῖ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ μετὰ τὴν ἄρνησιν καταλιπεῖν ἠνέσχετο τὸν διδάσκαλον " ἀλλ᾽ ἔκλαυσε μὲν πικρῶς, ὡς ἱστορία διδάσκει, καὶ τὴν ἧτταν ἀπωξύρατι. Προσήδρευσε δὲ τοῖς τοῦ φίλτρου δεσμοῖς κατεχόμενος. Καὶ μέντοι καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως δεξάμενος Εὐαγγέλια, πρῶτος τὸν τάφον χατέλαδε " καὶ ἐν τἢ Γαλιλαίᾳ δὲ πάλιν ἁλιεύων, εἶτα μαθὼν αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν Κύριον, τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς ἠϊόνος ἑστῶτα, καὶ προῦδι:λεγόμενον, οὐκ ἢνέσχετο μὲν τοῦ πορθμίου τερον διατέμνοντος τῆς θαλάσσης τὰ νῶτα " ἐπόθησε δὲ ὑπόπτερος γενόμενος δι᾽ αὐτοῦ ἀέρος τάχιστα χκαταλαδεῖν τὴν ἀκτήν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ πτερῶν ἡ φύσις ἐστέρητο, χρῆται μὲν ἀντὶ τοῦ ἀέρος τοὶς ὕδασιν, ἀντὶ δὲ πτερῶν ταῖς χερσί. Διανηχόμενος δὲ κατ:λαμδάνει τὸν ἀγαπώμενον, καὶ ἄθλον λαμθάνει τοῦ Ὦ δρόμου, τὴν τῶν ἄλλων προτίμησιν ἐπειδὴ καθίσαι προσέταξε, καὶ τὰ εὑρεθέντα σιτία διένειμε, τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν εὐθὺς ἤρξατο διαλέξεως, ἐρώμενκ: μὲν δῆθεν, καὶ πυθόμενος πόσον ἔχοι τὸ φίλτρο,, ἀποκαλύπτων δὲ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῦ μεγάλου Πέτρου τὸν ἔρωτα « Σίμων γὰρ Πέτρε, ἔφη, φιλεῖς με πλξν τούτων; » Ὃ δὲ αὐτὸν εἰς μαρτυρίαν ἐχάλεσς τοῦ φίλτρου “« Κύριε, γὰρ, εἶπε, σὺ οἷδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε» Ἐμθατεύεις γὰρ εἰς τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων νχὰς. χεὶ σαφῶς ἐπίπταται τὰ τῆς διανοίας χινέματα, χεὶ οὐ λανθάνει σ: τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων οὐδέν. Γινώσκει; τὰρ πάντα, τὰ ἔσχατα, καὶ τὰ ἀρχαῖα. Πρὸς τούτοις ὁ Δεσπότης ἐπήγαγε " ε Ποίμαινε τὰ πρόδατά μον. » Ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀνενδεῆς ᾿ εὐεργεσίαν δὲ με- Ὑίστην ἡγοῦμαι, τῶν ἐμῶν προδάτων τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν, καὶ τὴν εἰς ἐκεῖνα κηδεμονίαν εἰς ἐμαυτὸν ἀναδέχομαι. Προσήκει τοίνυν σε, ἧς ἀπολαύεις προμηθείας, μεταδιδόναι τοῖς ὁμοδούλοις, καὶ βόσχειν, ὡς βόσχῃ, καὶ ὦ; ποιμαίνῃ, ποιμαίνειν, καὶ ἦν ὀφείλεις μοι χάριν, δι᾽ ἐχείνων ἐχτιννύειν, Ταῦτα πάλιν καὶ δὶς ὁ Δεσπότης ἤρετο, καὶ δὶς ὁ μέγας ἀπεχρίνατο Πέτρο;, καὶ δὶς τοῦ ποιμένος τὴν χειροτονίαν ἐδέξατο. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ τρίτῃ προσηνέχθη πεῦσις, οὐκ ἔθ᾽ ὁμοίως θαρσαλέως καὶ ἀδεῶς ὁ μακάριος ἀποχρίνεται Πέτρο; ψυχῇ, καὶ ἀγωνιᾷ τῇ φήφῳ, καὶ δέδοικεν, ὑφορώμένος, μὴ ἑτέραν ἄρνησιν ὁ Δεσπότης προθεωρῶν, } τῶν τῆς ἀγάπης ῥημάτων καταγελᾷ " ἀνέδραμε γὰρ ὁνοῦς εἰς τὰ πρότερα, καὶ ἀνέμησεν αὐτὸν, ὡς ἤδη καὶ πρότερον πολλάκις μὲν μέχρι θανάτου μὴ καταλιπεῖν διισχυρίσατο τὸν διδάσκαλον, ἤκουσε δὲ ὡς ε Πρὶν ἀλέχτορα φωνῆσαι, τρὶς ἀπαρνήσῃ με. » Καὶ εὗρεν, οὐ τὴν οἰκείαν ὑπόσχεσιν περατουμένην, ἀλλὰ «οὔ Δεσπότου βεδαιουμένην τὴν πρόῤῥησιν. Ἦ τούτῶν αὐτὸν ἐδεδίττετο μνήμη, καὶ οὐκ εἴα θαοσαλέως «ἣν ἀρμοδίαν προσφέρειν ἀπόκρισιν. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ἐξείας μὲν καὶ πικρὰς ἐδέξατο τὰς ἀχίδας" παρεχώρησε δὲ ὅμως τῷ Δεσπότῃ τῆς γνώσεως" οὐκ ἀντιτείνων, ὡς τὸ πρότερον, οὐδὲ λέγων ε Κἂν δέῃ με σὺν σοὶ ἀποθανεῖν, οὐ μή σε ἀπαρνήσομας. » ᾿Αλλὰ τῆς μὲν ἀγάπης αὐτὸν ἔχειν συνίστορα φάσκων τὸν Δεσπότην, ἀχριδῆ δὲ τῶν ὅλων γνῶσιν παρ᾽ αὐτῷ εἶναι μόνῳ τῷ ποιητῇ τῶν ὅλων ὁμολογῶν ε Κύριε, γὰρ, ἕξη, σὺ πάντα οἷδα:, σὺ πάντα γινώσκεις, σὺ οἵἷδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε. » “Ὅτι μὲν γὰρ φιλῶ, καὶ οἶδας, καὶ μαρτυρεῖς. Εἰ δὲ καὶ διαμενῶ φιλῶν, σαφέστερον οἷδας αὑτός. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐγὼ περὶ τῶν ἐσομένων ἐρῶ, οὐδὲ ζυγομαχήσω περὶ ὧν οὐκ ἐπίσταμαι" ἔμαθον τῇ πείρᾳ μὴ ἀντιλέγειν τῷ Δεσπότῃ. Σὺ δὲ τῆς ἀληθείας πηγὴ. σὺ τῆς γνώσεως ἄξυσσος - τοῖς σοῖς δροις ἐμμένειν δεδίδαγμαι. Τοῦτο τὺ δέος αὐτοῦ θεασάμενος ὁ Δεσπότης, καὶ τὸ φίλτρον δὲ ἀχριδῶς ἐπιστά μενος, τῇ προαγορεύσει τῆς τελευτῆς λύει τὸν φόδον, καὶ δίδωσι τῇ ἀγάπῃ τὴν μσρτυρίαν, καὶ τοῦ Πέτρου «ἣν ὁμολογίαν κυροῖ, καὶ τῷ ἕλκει τῆς ἀρνήσεως προσφέριι τῆς ὁμολογίας τὸ φάρμακον. Διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ οἶμαι καὶ τριπλῆν ταύτην ἀπήτησεν" ἵνα ἰσάριϑμα τοῖς ἕλκεσιν ἐπιθῇ τὰ φάρμακα, καὶ γυμνώσῃ «οἷ; παροῦαι τῶν μαθητῶν τῆς ἀγάπης τὴν φλόγα. Ἥ τοίνυν πρόῤῥησις τῆς τελευτῆς, καὶ τὸν Πέτρον ἐψυχαγώγει, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐδίδασκεν, ὡς οἴκονομία; ἦν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ γνώμης ἡ ἄρνησις, Καὶ τοῦτο αὐτὸς ὁ Σωτὴρ καὶ Κύριο; ἡμῶν ἡνίξατο, πρὸ; αὐτὸν εἰρηκώς" ε« Σίμων, Σίμων, ἐξητήσατο ὁ Σατανᾶς σινιᾶται ὑμᾶς ὡς τὸν σῖτον, χἀγὼ ἐδεήθην περὶ σοῦ, ἵνε μὴ ἐκλίπῃ ἢ πίστις σου" ἀλὰλχ καὶ σὺ ποτε ἐπιστρέ νας, στίριξον τοὺς ἀδελφούς συν. » "Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἤχων σου, καὶ ἧς ἀπολαύεις ἐπικουρίας μετάδος " καὶ μὴ κας. Τούτου γάρ σε χάριν καὶ προσπταῖσαι συγχωρῶ, καὶ πεσεῖν οὐκ ἐῶ, στάσιν τοῖς σαλενομένοις διὰ σοῦ μηχανώμενος. Οὕτω τὴν οἰκουμένην σαλευομένην ὁ μέγας οὗτος α«τύλος ἐπήρεισε, καὶ καταπεσεῖν οὐκ εἴα5σ9 παντελῶς, ἀλλ᾽ ἀνώρθωσε, καὶ ἐδρχίαν καὶ παροινούμενος ὑπὲρ τούτου ἡνείχετο, καὶ αἰκιζόμενος ἥδετο. Καὶ ἐξιὼν ἐκ τοῦ πονηροῦ συνεδρίηυ σὺν τῷ ὁμοξζύγῳ ἔχαιρεν, ὅτι κατηξιώθη ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ Δεσπότου ἀτιμασθῆναι. Καὶ εἰς δεσμωτίρια δὲ βαλλόμενος, ἐγάννυτο, καὶ εὐφραίνετο. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ ὑπὸ Νέρωνος τὴν διὰ σταυροῦ ὑπὲρ τοῦ σταυ. ρωθέντος κατεδικάσθη σφαγὴν, παρεκάλει τοὺς προσηλωθῆναι" δείσας, ὡς εἰχὰς, μὴ ἡ τοῦ πάθους ταυτότης, ἴσον αὐτῷ παρὰ τῶν ἀνοήτων εἰσενέγχοι τὸ γέρας. Διὰ τοῦτο κάτω προσηλωθῆναι τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ ἄνω τοὺς πόδας ἱκέτευε. Τὸ γὰρ ἔσχατον αἱρεῖσθαι, οὐκ ἐν τῇ τιμῇ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀτιμία μεμάθηκεν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ δεκάκις, καὶ πεντηχοντάχις, τοῦτον ὑπομεῖναι τὸν θάνατον οἷόν τε ἣν ἐδέξατο ἂν μετὰ πάσης ἡδονῆς, τῷ θείῳ πυρπολούμενος πόθῳ, Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὁ θεῖος Παῦλος βοᾷ, νῦν μὲν λέγων᾽ « Καθημέραν ἀποθνήσκω, νὴ τὴν ὑμετέραν καύχησιν, ἣν ἔχω ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ" » νῦν δέ" ε Χριστῷ σὺυνἐσταύρωμαι, Ζῶ δὲ οὐκ ἔτι ἐγὼ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμὼ Χριστός.» Οὐκοῦν ὁ τὸν ἔρωτα τὸν θεῖον δεξάμενος, πάντων μὲν ὁμοῦ τῶν γηΐνων καταφρονεῖ, πατεῖ δὲ ἀπάτας τὰς τοῦ σώματος ἡδονά:" ὑπερορᾷ πλούτου καὶ δόξης, καὶ τῇς παρὰ ἀνθρώπων τιμῇ; ἀραχνίων οὐδὲν διαφέρειν ὑπολαμθάνει τὴν βασιλικὴν ἁλουργίδ:" τοὺς πολυτελεῖς τῶν λίθων ταῖς παρὰ τὰς ὄχθας ὑγείαν τοῦ σώματος, οὐδὲ συμφορὰν τὴν νόσον ἀπ᾿ καλεῖ, οὐδὲ δυσπραξίαν τὴν πενίαν προσαγορεύει, οὐδὲ πλούτῳ καὶ τρυφῇ τὴν εὐξαιμονίαν ὁρίζεται " ὄχθαις παραῤῥέουσι δένδρα, καὶ πρὸς οὐδένα τούτων ἱσταμένοις, ἀεὶ ἑἐοιχέναι τούτων ἔκαστον ἡγεῖται καλῶς. Ὁμοίως γὰρ καὶ ᾿πενία καὶ πλοῦτος, καὶ υ ὑγεία καὶ νόσος, τιμή τε καὶ ἀτιμία, καὶ τἄλλα, ὅσα τῶν ἀνθρώπων παρατρέχει τὴν φύσιν, οὐ παρὰ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἀεὶ μένοντα θεωρεῖται, ἀλλὰ τοὺς χεχτημέγους ἀμείδοντα, καὶ ἐξ ἄλλων εἰς ἄλλους διηνεκῶς μεταθαίνοντα. Πολλοὶ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ εὐπορίας πίπτουσιν εἰς πενίαν ἐσχάτην " πολλοὶ δὲ ἐκ πενήτων εἰς τὸν τῶν πλουσίων κατάλογον ἀναδαίνουσι. Καὶ νόσος δὲ, καὶ ὑγείᾳ διὰ πάντων, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, σωμάτων, καὶ πεινώντων καὶ τρυφώντων, ὁδεύει. ᾿Αρετὴ δὲ καὶ φιλοσοφία, μόνη μένει ἀγαθῶν. Νικᾷ γὰρ καὶ λῃστοῦ χεῖρας, καὶ συκοφάντου γλῶσσαν, καὶ πολεμικῶν βελῶν καὶ δοράτων νιφάδας " οὐ γίνεται πυρετοῦ παρηνάλωμα, οὐδὲ κλύδωνος πάρεργον, οὐδὲ ναναγίου ζημία. Ταύτης ὁ χρόνος οὐκ ἀφαιρεῖται, ἀλλ᾽ αὔξει τὴν δύναμιν. Ὕλη δὲ ταύτης ἡ περὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπη. ᾿Αδύνατον γὰρ κατορθῶσαι φιλοσοφίαν τὸν μὴ θερμὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ γενόμενον ἐραστὴν" μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο φιλοσοφία καλεῖται. Σοφία γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς καὶ ἔστι καὶ καλεῖται. Περὶ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ὁ μακάριος λέγει Παῦλας " « ᾿Αφθάρτῳ, ἀοράτῳ, μόνῳ σοφῷ Θεῷ " » περὶ δὲ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς φησι" «ε Χριστὸς, Θεοῦ δύναμις, καὶ Θεοῦ σοφία.» Καὶ πάλιν" ε« Ἐδόθη ἡμῖν σοφία ἀπὸ Θεοῦ, δικαιοσύνη τε καὶ ἁγιασμὸς, καὶ ἀπολύτρωσις. » Ὁ τοίνυν τῷ ὄντι φιλόσοφος, καὶ φιλόθεος ἂν εἰκότως καλοῖτο. Ὁ δὲ φιλόθεος τῶν ἄλλων. ἁπάντων ὑπερφρονῶν, καὶ τὸν ἐρώμενον μόνον ὁρῶν, πάντων ὁμοῦ τὴν ἐχείνου προκίθησι θεραπείαν" ἐκεῖνα μόνα, καὶ λέγων, καὶ πράττων, καὶ λογιζόμενος, ἃ τὸν ἀγαπώμενον ἀρέσκει καὶ θεράπεύει, καὶ μυσαττόμενος ἅπαντα ὅσα ἐκεῖνος ἀπαγορεύει. Ταύτης ᾿Αδὰμ τῆς ἀγάπης ὁλιγὡρήσας, καὶ περὶ τὸν εὐεργέτην ἀγνώμων γενόμενος, ἀκάνθας, καὶ πόνους, καὶ ταλαιπωρίας ἐδρέψατο τῆς ἀχαριστίας μισθόν. Ταύτην !“Αδελ τῷ χορηγῷ τῶν ἀγαθῶν βεδαίαν διαφυλάξας, καὶ τῶν μὲν γα-᾿ στρὸς ἡδονῶν καταφρονήσας, τὴν δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ προ-᾿ ελόμενος θεραπείαν, τοῖς ἀχηράτοις κατεκοσμήθη στεφάνοις, καὶ διὰ πάσης γενεᾶς ὁδεύει, τὴν εὐφημίαν διὰ τῆς μνήμης καρπούμενος. Ταύτην Ἑνὼχ ἀληθῆ (α καὶ γνησίαν κτησάμενος, καὶ ἔσπειρε καλῶς, καὶ ἐθέρισέν ἄμεινον, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ θεραπείας μισθὸν ξχυμίσατο τὴν μετάθεσιν, καὶ τὴν ἀθάνατον τέως ζωὴν, καὶ τὴν διὰ τοῦ βίου παντὸς εὐκλεῆ καὶ ἀθάνατον μνήμην. Τί ἄν τις εἴποι περὶ τῆς τοῦ Νῶε φιλοθεῖας, ἣν οὐδὲ τῶν παρανόμων διήλεγξεν ἡ φθορά" ἀλλὰ πάντων ἐχχλινάντων, καὶ τὴν ἐναντίαν προελομένων, μόνος τὴν εὐθεῖαν ὥδευσε, πάντων ὁμοῦ τὸν Ποιητὴν προτιθείς; Οὗ χάριν, καὶ μόνος μετὰ τῶν παίδων τῆς σωτηρίας τετύχηκε, καὶ σπέρμα χατελείφϑη τῇ φύσει, καὶ σπινθὴρ ἐφυλάχθη τῷ γένει. Οὕτω Μελχισεδὲκ, ὁ μέγας ἀρχιερεὺς, τῶν τὰ εἴδωλα πσέδειν προελομένων τὴν ἄνοιαν βδελυξάμενος, Ξῷ Ποιητῇ τῶν ὅλων τὴν οἰκείαν ἱερωσύνην ἀνἐθηκεν. Οὗ χάριν, τὸν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον μισθὸν ἐχομίσατο, τύπος γενόμενος καὶ σκιὰ τοῦ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἀρχὴν ἡμερῶν, μήτε ζωῆς τέλος ἔχοντος. ᾿Αλλὰ γὰρ' ὁδῷ βαδίζων ὁ λόγος. πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀφίκετο, τὸν χρηματίσαντα τοῦ Θεοῦ φίλον, τὸν ἀχριδῶς τῆς τιλίας ποὺς νόμους καὶ φυλάξαντα καὶ διδάξαντα. Τίς γὰρ ἀγνοεῖ των οὕτω πως τὰ θεῖα πεπαιδευμένων, ὅπως ὑπήκουσεν ᾿Αδραὰμ ὁ μέγας πατριάρχης καλέσαντι τῷ Θεῷ, ὅπως τὴν πατρῴαν κατέλιπεν οἰκίαν, καὶ τῆς πατρίδος τὴν ξένην προείλετο; ἐπειδήπερ ἅπαξ ἠράσθη τοῦ χεχληχότο;, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα δεύτερα τῆς ἐκείνον φιλίας ἐδοχίρμασε θέσθαι, καὶ πολλαὶς πολλάκις δυσχολίαις περιπεσὼν, οὐ κατέλιπε τὸν ἐρώμενον, ὡς ταῖς ἐπαγγελίαις οὐκ ἐπιθέντα τὸ πέρας" ἀλλὰ καὶ δίψει πιεζόμενος, καὶ πιεῖν ὕδωρ ἀφ᾽ ὧν ὥρυξε φρεάτων εἰργόμενος, οὔτε κατὰ τοῦ καλέσαντος ἐδυσχέρανεν, οὔτε τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας ἡμύνατο. ᾿Εδέξατο καὶ λιμοῦ προσδολὴν, καὶ οὐκ ἔσδεος τὸν τῆς ἀγάπης πυρσόν " ἀφῃρέθη καὶ τὴν ὁμόζυγα, καὶ ὥρᾳ λάμπουσαν, καὶ σωφροσύνῃ κεκοσμημένην, καὶ διὰ πάντων αὐτῷ θυμήρη τὸν βίον παρέχουσαν" καὶ οὐ συναφῃρέθη τὴν περὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἀγάπην τῇ γυναικί. ᾿Αλλὰ καὶ ἐπαμύνοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τὴν σθαι τῆς ἀδικίας τὰς προσδολὰς, ὁμοίως διέμεινεν ἀγαπῶν. Καὶ πρεσδύτης ἐγένετο, καὶ πατὴροὐχ ἐγένετο, καὶ περὶ αὐτὸν πατέρα ποιήσειν ἐπαγγειλάμενον μὲν, οὐ πεποιηκότα δὲ τέως, ὁμοίως διέκειτο. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὀψέ ποτε, καὶ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν ἔλαδε, καὶ τῆς Σάῤῥας τὴν φύσιν ἐνέχησε, καὶ τοῦ γήρους ὑπερέδη τοὺς ὄρους, καὶ τοῦ Ἰσαὰκ ἀπεφάνθη πατὴρ, ὀλίγον μὲν χρόνον τῆς ἐντευθθενθυμηδίας ἀπήλαυσε μειράκιον (ὲ τὸ παιδίον γενόμενον, προσινεγχεῖν εἰς θυσίαν προσετάχϑη τῷ δεδωκότι, καὶ τὸ δῶρον ἀντιδοῦναι τῷ χ᾽ ρηγῷ, καὶ ἱερεὺς γενέσθαι τοῦ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας καρποῦ, καὶ προσαγαγεῖν εἰς θυσίαν τῶν ἐθνῶν τὴν μεγάλην πηγὴν, καὶ αἴματι μονογενοῦς παιδὸς χαταφοινίξαι τὰς χεῖρας. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ὅμως ταῦτα πάντα, καὶ ἔτι τούτῶν πολλῷ πλείονα, τῆς θυσίας ἐχούσης, οὐκ ἀντἐτεινεν ὁ πατριάρχης, οὐδὲ τὰ τῆς φύσεως προὐδάλετο δίκαια, οὐδὲ τὰς ὑποσχέσεις εἰς μέσον παρήγαιεν, οὐδὲ γηρωχομίας καὶ ταφῆς ἀνεμνήσθη ᾿ ἀλλὰ πάντα λογισμὸν ἀνθρώπινον ῥίψας, καὶ πόθῳ πόθον ἀντν τάξας, καὶ νόμῳ νόμον ἀντιστήσας, τῷ τῆς φύσεως «τὸ θεῖον, ἔδραμεν εἰς τὴν ἱερουργίαν, ἀνενδοιάττως ἐπενεγκεῖν τὴν πληγὴν, εἰ μὴ ταχέως ὁ Μεγαλύδωροζ, τὴν προθυμίαν δεξάμενος, ἑκώλυσε τὴν σφαγήν. ᾿Αλλὰ γὰρ οὐκ οἶδα, εἴ τις ἂν ἀρχέστις λόγος, εἰς τὴν τοῦ ἔρωτος τοῦδε διήγησιν. Ὃ γὰρ μηδὲ μον. γενοῦς φεισάμενος παιδὸς, ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο προσέταξεν ὁ ἐρώμενος, τίνος οὐκ ἂν διὰ τοῦτον ὑπερεφρόνησε, καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ μέγας Ἰσαὰκ, τὴν αὐτὴν ἀγάπην περὶ τὸν Δεσπότην ἐκτήσατο. Καὶ ὁ τούτον δὲ υἱὸς, Ἰαχὼδ ὁ πατριάρχης. Αδουσι δὲ ἀμφοτέρων τὸ φιλόθεον αἱ θεῖαι Γραφαί " καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς οὐδαμοῦ τῆς ῥίζης διαχωρίζει τοὺς κχλάδους, ἀλλὰ Θεὸν ἑαυτὸν ᾿Αδραὰμ,, καὶ Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ Ἰαχὼδ ὀνομάζει., Τούτων ἐστὶ καρπὸς εὐσεδὴς καὶ Ἰωσὴφ, ὁ ἐν νέοις πρεσδύτης, καὶ ἐν πρεαδύταις γενναῖος " οὗ τὸ φιλόθεον οὔτε φθόνος ἠνάλωσεν, οὔτε δουλεία χαῖἐσόεσεν, οὐ δεσποίνης ἐσύλησε κολακεία, οὐκ ἀπειλὴ καὶ δέος ἐμάρανεν " οὐ συκοφαντία, καὶ δεσμωτήριον, καὶ χρόνος μακρὸς κατεπά) αισεν" οὐκ ἐξουσία, καὶ δυναστεία, καὶ τρυφὴ, καὶ πλοῦτος, τῆς διανοίας ἐξέδαλεν " ἀλλ᾽ ἔμεινεν ὁμοίως καὶ βλέπων τὸν ἐρώ" μενον, καὶ τοὺς ἐχείνου νόμους πληρῶν. Ταύτην ὁ Α Μωσῆς τὴν ἀγάπην κτησάμενος, τῆς ἐν βασιλείοις διαίτης καταφρονήσας, μᾶλλον εἴλετο συγχαχουχεῖσθαι τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἣ πρόσκαιρον ἔχειν ἁμαρτίας ἀπόλαυσιν. Καὶ τί δεῖ μηκύνειν καὶ πέρα τοῦ μέτρου τὸν λόγον ἐκτείνειν; Τῇ θείᾳ γὰρ ἀγάπῃ πᾶσα τῶν προφητῶν ἡ ἑταιρία χεχρημένη, καὶ κοσμουμένη, καὶ τὴν τελειοτάτην κατώρθωσεν ἀρετὴν, καὶ ἀείμνῆστον τὸ κλέος κατέλιπε. Καὶ μέντοι καὶ τῶν ἀπὸστόλων ὀχορὸς, καὶ τῶν μαρτύρων οἱ δῆμοι, τοῦτο τὸ πῦρ εἰσδεξάμενοι, πάντων μὲν ὑπερεῖδον τῶν ὁρωμένων, πάσης δὲ ζωῆς ἡδίστης τὰ μυρία τῶν θανάτων εἴδη προείλοντο. ἙἘρασθέντες γὰρ τοῦ θείον κάλλους, καὶ τὸ περὶ ἡμᾶς τοῦ Θεοῦ λογισάμενοι φίλτρον, καὶ τὰς μυρίας ἐνθυμηθέντες εὐεργεσίας, αἰσχρὸν ἡγήσαντο, μήτε τὸ κάλλος ἐκεῖνο ποθῆσαι τὸ ἄφραστον, καὶ ἀχάριστοι περὶ τὸν εὐεργέτην γενέ» σθαι. Τούτου χάριν, μέχρι θανάτου τὰς πρὸς αὐτὸν συνθήκας ἐφύλαξαν. Τούτου «οὔ κάλλους ἐρασθέντες καὶ οἱ νέοι τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀθληταὶ, ὧν συνεγράψαμεν ἐν συντόμῳ τὸν βίον, εἰς τοὺς μεγάλους ἐκείνους, καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν νιχῶντας, εἰσεπήδη ταν ἄθλους, Τοῦτο δὲ σαφῶς αὐτοὺς ἐξεπαίδευσαν αἱ θεῖαι Γραφαί. Ῥάλλουσι γὰρ μετὰ τοῦ μεγάλου Δαβίδ" ε Κύριε ὁ θεός μου, ὡς ἐμεγαλύνθης σφόδρα. Ἐξομολόγησιν καὶ μεγαλοπρέπειαν ἐνεδύσω, ἀναδαλλόμενος φῶς ὡς ἱμάτιον " ἐκτείνων τὸν οὐρανὸν, ὡσεὶ δέῤῥιν"» καὶ τἄλλα ὅσα τὴν σοφίαν αὐτοῦ διδάσκει καὶ δύναμιν. Καὶ πάλιν" « Ὁ Κύριος ἐδασίλευσεν, εὐπρέπειαν ἐνεδύσατο“ ἐνεδύσατο Κύριος δύναμιν, καὶ περιεζώσατο" καὶ γὰρ κατώρθωσε τὴν οἰκουμένην, ἥτις οὐ σαλευθήσεται.» Κἀνταῦθα δὲ ὡσαύτως καὶ σοφία καὶ κάλλος ἐκηρύχθη, καὶ δύναμις. Καὶ ἑτέρωθι δέ" « Ὧραϊζος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων.» Ἕνταῦθα δὲ, καὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου εὑφήμησε κάλλος, Ὑμνεῖ δὲ καὶ τὴν σοφίαν" ε« Ἐξεχύθη γὰρ, φησὶ, χάρις ἐν χείλεσί σου. ν Ὑποδείκνυσι καὶ τὴν δύναμιν " « Περίξωσαι τὴν ῥομφαίαν σου ἐπὶ τὸν μὴρόν δον, δυνατέ" τῇ ὡραιότητί σον, καὶ τῷ κάλλει σου, καὶ ἕντεινε, καὶ κατευοδοῦ, καὶ βασῇλενε, ἕνεκεν ἀληθείας, καὶ πραότητος, καὶ δικαιοσύνης. » Ταῦτα γὰρ αὐτοῦ, καὶ κάλλος, καὶ πλοῦτος, καὶ δύναμις. Καὶ Ἡταῖας δὲ βοᾷ ε Τίς οὗτος ὁ παραγενόμενος ἐξ Ἐδώμ; ἐρύθημα ἱματίων αὐτοῦ ἐκ Βοσόρ; Οὗτος ὡραῖος ἐν στολῇ αὐτοῦ, βία μετὰ ἰσχύος. » Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἡ ἀνθρωπεία στολὴ τὸ θεῖον χατεχάλυψε κάλλος " ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύτην περιδεδλημένο;, ρυγὰς ἀπὸ τῆς ὥρας ἀφίησιν, ὡς τοὺς ὁρῶντας βιάζεσθαι καὶ καταθέλγειν εἰς ἔρωτα. Τοῦτο καὶ ἁγία Νύμφη πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς ΓΛσμασι τῶν ἀσμάτων διαλεγομένη φησί" ε Μῦρον ἐκκενωθὲν ὄνομά σου. Διὰ τοῦτο νεάνιδες ἢγάπησάν σε’ εἴλκυσάν σε" ὀπίσω σσὺ εἰς ὀσμὴν λύρων σου ἔδραμον. ν» Αἱ γὰρ νεανικαὶ ψυκαὶ, τῆς σῆς εὐωδίας μεταλαμδάνουσαι, δέουσι χαταλαδεῖν σε ποθοῦσαι. καὶ οἷον ἁλύσει τινὶ τῇ ὀσμῇ κατεχόμεναι, διαῤῥῆξαι τὸν δεσμὸν οὖκ ἀνἔχονται " γλυκὺς γὰρ οὗτος, καὶ ἐθελουσίως αὑταῖς περικείμενος. Τούτοις συμφωνεῖ καὶ τοῦ θείου Παύλου τὰ ῥήματα" «ε Χριστοῦ εὐωδία ἐσμὲν, ἐν τοῖς σωζομένοις, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις οἷς μὲν ὁσμὴ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον " οἷς δὲ ὁσμὴ ζωῆς εἰς ξωήν.» Καλὸν τοίνυν αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῆς θείας Γραφῆς διδασκόμενοι, καὶ πλοῦτον ἄφραστον ἔχοντα, καὶ σοφίας ὄντα πηγὴν, καὶ τοσαῦτα δυνάμενον ὅσα βούλεται, καὶ φῇ ανθρωπίᾳ χρώμενον ἀμετρήτῳ, καὶ ἡμερότητος ποταμοὺς ἀναδλύζοντα, καὶ διὰ -πάντων εὑεργετεῖν μόνον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐθέλοντα " καὶ τὰ μυρία, καὶ τὸν νοῦν ὑπερδαίνοντα, τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν εἴδη Β ὑπὸ τῶν θεοφόρων ἀνδρῶν διδασκόμενοι, τοῖς γλυχέσι τῆς ἀγάπης ἐτρώθησαν βέλεσι, καὶ μέλη τῆς νύμφης ὄντες, μετ᾽ ἐκείνης βοῶσι" « Τετρωμένοι ἀγάπης ἡμεῖς. » Ὁ γὰρ μέγας Ἰωάννης βοᾷ “ « δε ὁ ἀμνὸς ποῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ αἴρων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. » Ὁ δὲ προφήτης Ἡσαΐας, ὡς γεγενημένα τὰ ἐσόμενα προεθέσπισε λέγων " ε Αὐτὸς ἐτραυματίσθη διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, καὶ μεμαλάκισται διὰ τὰς ἀνομίας ἡμῶν " παιδεία εἰρήνης ἡμῶν ἐ π᾿ αὐτόν " τῷ μώλωπι αὐτοῦ ἡμεῖς ἰάθημεν᾽ » καὶ τὰ ἄλλα, ὅσα περὶ τῶν σωτηρίων παθῶν διεξέρχεται. Κηρύττει καὶ Παῦλος, βοῶν" ε Ὅς γε τοῦ ἰδίου Υἱοῦ οὐκ ἐφείσατο, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πάντων παρέδωκεν αὐτὸν, πῶς οὐκὶ καὶ σὺν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ἡμῖν χαρίσηται; » Καὶ πάλιν “᾿ «Ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ πρεσδεύομεν, ὡς τοῦ Θεοῦ παρακαλοῦντος δι᾽ ἡμῶν“ δεόμεθα ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, καταλλάγητε τῷ Θεῷ " τὸν γὰρ μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν ὑπὲρ, ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν, ἵνα ἡμεῖς γενώμεθα Θεοῦ δικαιοσύνη ἐν αὐτῷ. ᾽ Ταῦτα, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, παρὰ τοῖς ὑπηρέταις «οὔ θείου λόγου γεγενημένοις εὑρίσκοντες, δέχονται πανταχόθεν τῆς θείας ἀγάπης τὰ κέντρα, καὶ πάντῶν ὑπερφρονοῦντες, φαντάζονται τὸν ἐρώμενον, καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἐλπιζομένης ἀφθαρσίας, τὸ σῶμα πνευματικὸν ἀπετέλεσαν. Τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς τὸ φίλτρον δεξώμεθα, καὶ τῷ κάλλει τοῦ νυμφίου χαταθελγόμενοι, καὶ τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἀγαθῶν ἐφιέμενοι, καὶ τὸ τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν ἐντρεπόμενοι πλῆθος, καὶ τὰς τῆς ἀχαριστίας δεδιότες εὐθύνα:, ἀγαπῶντες καὶ φύλακες αὑτοῦ τῶν νόμων γενώμεθα. Οὗτος γὰρ ὄρος φιλίας, τὸ ταυτὰ φιλεῖν, καὶ ταυτὰ μισεῖν’ διὰ τοῦτο τῷ ᾿Αδραὰμ. ἔλεγεν " «Εὐλογήσω τοὺς εὐλογοῦντάς σε, καὶ τοὺς καταρωμένους σε καταράσομαι. » Καὶ ὁ Δαδὶδ πρὸς αὑτόν "« Ἐμοὶ δὲ λίαν ἐτιμήθησαν οἱ φίλοι σον, ὁ Θεός. ν» Καὶ πάλιν «Οὐκὶ τοὺς μιποῦνκἀς σε, Κύριε, ἐμίσησα, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς σου ἐξετηχόμην; Τέλειον μῖσος ἐμίσουν αὐτούς " εἰς ἐχθροὺς ἐγένοντό μοι. » Καὶ ἑτέρωθι " « Παρανόμους ἐμίσησα, τὸν δὲ νόμον σον ἠγάπησα. ν Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ" ε Ὡς ἠγάπησα τὸν νόμον συν, Κύριε, ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν μελέτη μού ἐστιν. » Ἑναργὲς οὖν τεκμήριον τῆς περὶ
Ēliichoi men hoi tēs aretēs athlētai, kai hosois hoiois stephanois lamprynontai, saphōs didaskei ta peri autōn syngraphenta hēmin diēgēmata. Ei gar kai mē pantas autōn periechei tous athlons, all᾽ apochrē kai ta oliga pantos tou biou deixai ton charaktēra. Kai gar ton chryson ouk hapanta ton prospheromenon dapanōsa hē lithos, all᾽ oligǭ tini prostrithomenē dokimon hē adokimon deiknysi " kai. ton toxotēn de hōsautōs ex oligōn aphiemenōn belōn chkatamatho: an tis achrithōs, eite arista toxeuoi kata skopou ballōn, eite exō pheroito, tēn technēn ouk hēschēmenos. Houtō kai tous allous technitas, hina mē kath᾽ hechaston legō, dynaton diagnōnai, kai dromeas, kai tragǭdias hypokritas, kai chydernētas, kai naupēgous, kai iatrous, kai gēponous, kai tous allous apaxaplōs, hosoi tina metacheirixousi technēn" B hikanē gar oligē peira kai tōn epistēmonōn epideixai tēn technēn, kai tōn onomati monǭ chrōmenōn elenxai tēn amathian. ᾿Apochrē toinyn, hōs ephēn, kai ta oliga syngraphenta tōn hekastǭ chatōrthōmenōn, pasan didaxai tēn tou biou proairesin. Prosēkei de hēmas epi tou parontos, ereunēsai, kai zētēsai, kai katamathein achridōs, pothen hormōmenoi tēnde tēn politeian ēspasanto, kai poiois chrōmenoi logismois, autēn chateladou tēs philosophias tēn koryphēn " hoti gar ou tę̄ rhōmę̄ tharrhountes tou sōmatos, tōn hyper tēn physin tēn anthrōpeian hērasthēsan, kai tous tautę̄ keimenous hyperedēsan nomous, kai et edēsa) schammata, saphēs hē peira didaskalos. Oudeis gar tōn tēs philosophias tautēs amoirōn, tēn poutōn chartemian epedeixato pōpote. Ei gar kai nexontai poimenes, all᾽ ouk aei" kai antrois gar chrōntai, kai eis tas oikias epaniasi, kai hypodēmasi de tous podas chalyptousi, kai esthēmasi mot-erois ta alla merē tou sōmatos peridallousi " kai di?, kai tris tēs hēmera?, tacha de kai tetrachis, mata" hotan gar hē toiautē trophē tēn alloiōtin dexētai, kai hoion ithmǭ tini diachritheisa, kai to hēpar chatalathdousa, tēn eis haima metatholēn hypomeinę̄, chōrei men eis tēn kardian dia tēs koilēs phlethos" echthermatheisa de, ekeithen, hoion dia tinōn ochetōn tou sōmatos moria" hou d᾽ an aphikētai, ouk ardei monon, alla kai pyros dikēn echthermaine:, kai tōn malakōn himatiōn ameinon perithalpei to sōma. Ou gar, hōs tines hypolamdanousi, chitōnes, kai ampechonai, kai ephestrides, tǭ srōmati tēn thermēn par: echousin" hē gar an, kai xyla, kai lithous ethermanan, hois an epelasan " all᾽ oudeis etheasato pōpote, hē xylon, hē liϑon, thermoteron hypo himatiōn gegenēmenon. Oukoun oude tǭ sōmati tauta parechei tēn thermēn " allo tou sōmatos tauta phylattei tēn ther- B mēn" kai apeirgei men tou psychrou aeros tēn pr.:- Tholēn " hypodechomena de tous ek tou sōmatos exiontas atmous, kai thermainetai toutois, kai thermotera prosballei tǭ sōmati. Kai martys hē peira" psychrą gar pollakis tę̄ klinę̄ prosthallontes͵ tę̄ pou sōmatos homilią thermēn tēn pro bracheos psychran apoteloumen strōmnēn. Oukoun hē trophē pautos himatiou pleon diathermainei to sōma hoi de tautēs eis choron metalamdanontes, eryma echoutin arkoun pros tēn tou zousi gar tautę̄ to sōma, kai antechein pros tēn toiautēn tou hetous paraschenazoudin hōran. Hoi de mēte sitiōn, mēte potōn, kath᾽ hekastēn apolauontes tēn hēmeran, kai hēnika d᾽ an apolauousi, ou ton koron anamenontes, alla tēn orexin achmazoudan dynamenōn to sōma, all᾽ hē poēphagountes toi? alogois paraplēsiōs, hē diadrochois hospriois chrōmenoi monois, poion an ek tēs toiautēs tryphēs arysainto thalpos? posē d' an enteuthen, ē toi lidas haimatos genoito? Kat’ ouden toinyn eoike ta tōn allōn tois toutōn epitēdeumasin. Oute ga esthēs hē hautē toutōn kakeinōn “ trachytatē gar homoia, all᾽ enantia ek diametrou. Poimesi men gar. kai tois allois tois toioutois, trophēs kairos hapas kairos " tę̄ orexei gar horizontai ton kairon, kϑn heōthen hē peina prosdallę̄, parautika prospherousi tēn trophēn" kai prospherousin hoti an tychę̄᾽ Ho gar hōristai, touto men esthiein, ekeino de ēkista, alla pantōn hōn an ethelōsin, adeōs apolauousin. Entautha de kai hēmerai, kai kairoi, cha? eidē tēs trophēs, kai metra" kai choros tautēs nos. Mēdeis toinyn hēmin tōn mempsimoirōn, nous, kai poimenas, kai nautas propherōn eis meson, tōn tous agōnas. Ho te gar gēponos, meth᾽ hēmeran kamōn, oikoi therapeuetai nyktōr, pasan autǭ therapeian tēs omoxygou porizousēs. Kai ho poimēn de hōsautōs metalanchanei pantōn echeinōn, hōn proeirēkamen" ho de nautēs dechetai men tēn aktina kata tou sōmatos " alla tēn apo tōn hydatōn therapeian prospherei pǭ sōmati" epinēchetai gar hodon bouletai, kai tę̄ phlogi tēs aktinos alexipharmechon proopherei tēn tōn hydatōn psychrotēta. Houtoi de therapeias men oudemias par᾽ oudenos apolauousin, Ou gar synoichousi gynaikes, hai tois andrasi pantodapēn mēchanōntai parapsychēn. Oute de tēs aktinos thermoteron propthalēusēs, tēn apo tōn hydatōn phpsygagōgian prospherontai" ou cheimōnos hōrą tēn trophēn antitattous' tǭ chrymǭ, oute tēs nyktos tēn anapaulan, hoion ti pharmakon, tois methēmerinois prospherousi ponois " kai meizous gar, kai pleiou?, hoi tautēs tōn en hēmerą gignomenōn hidrōpōn. En tautę̄ gar, kai tēn pros ton hypnon anadechontai palēn, kai tēs glykeias ekeinēs ouk anechontai hēttēs " alla tēs hēdistēs periginontai «yrannidos, kai pannychioi diatelousi ton Despotēn hymnountes, Oudeis toinyn tōn exō tēs toutōn philosophias, tēn toutōn epidedeiktai karterian. Ei de mēdeis tōn allōn anthrōpōn antischein pros tous toioutous ponous dedynētai, dēlon hōs ho peri ton Th:on erōs hyperdēnai tous tēs physeōs pareskeuasen orous " kai tǭ anōthen pyrsǭ pyrpoloumenoi, pherousin aspasiōs tēn tou chrymou prosdolēn, kai tę̄ enteuthen drosǭ, tēn tēs aktinos chatapraunousi phloga. Houtos hautous kai trephei, kai ardei, kai perithallei, kai ptera didōsi, kai petesthai dida» schei, kai ton ouranon hyperthainein paraskeuazei, kai ton erōmenon hōs dynaton epideiknysi, kai tę̄ «hēs theōrias phantasią pyrseuei ton pothon, kai diegeirei to philtron, kai sphodroteran exaptei tēn phloga. Kathaper gar hoi tōn sōmatōn herōntes, hylēn apo tēs theas tōn erōmenōn tǭ philtrǭ pori- zousi, kai ton oistron ekeinon chalepōteron apergazontai " houtōs hoi tēs theias agapēs ta kentra dechomenoi, to theion ekeino kai akēraton phantazomenoi kallos, oxyteras tēs agapēs tas achidas ergazontai, kai hosǭ pleon apolausai pothousi, tosoutǭ mallon ton koron elaunousi. Tę̄ men gar hēdonę̄ tōn sōmatōn akolouthei plēsmonē, ho de theios erōs tou korou tous nomous ou dechetai. Toioutos ēn Mōysēs ho megas nomothetēs " hos pollakis, hōs ephikton anthrōpǭ,, tēs theias theōrias axiōtheis, kai pollakis tę̄? makarias apolausas phōnēs, kai tessarachonta kata tauton hēmera? eisō tou gnophou genomenos, kai tēn theian nomothesian dexamenos, ou monon choron ouk eladen, alla kai sphodroteran kai thermoteran tēn epithymian ektēsato. Kathaper gar tina karon hypo tēs tou erōtos echeinou dexamenos methēs, kai tǭ philtrǭ lian echthachcheutheis, tēn men oikeian ēgnoēse: physin, epethymēse de idein, ha mē themis idein " hōsper gar epilathomenos tēs despoteias, kai to philtron logizomenos monon, ephē pros ton tōn holōn Theon" « Idou, sy legeis moi" Heures charin par᾽ emoi, kai hoida se para pantas. Ei toinyn heuron charin enantion sy, emphaniton moi seauton " gnōstōs idō se. » Toilytēn apo tēs theias agapēs edexato methēn, kai hē methē to digos ouk epesen, alla sphodroteron apeirgadato. Kai hē prosthechē tēs poseōs, epitasis egeneto tēs epheseōs, kai tēn orexin gdxtsen hē apolausis. Kai kathaper to pyr, hosǭ pleiona trophēn hypodechetai, tosoutǭ meizona tēn energeian deiknysin (auxetai gar hautē tę̄ prosthēkę̄ tēs hylēs, all᾽ ouk amolynetai)" houtōs hē pros Theon agapē «tę̄ theōrią tōn theiōn pyrseuetai, kai sphodroteran ekeithen, kai thermoteran tēn energeian hypodechetai. Kai hosǭ an eis pleon tois theiois endiatripsę̄, tosoutǭ mallon exaptei tēs agapēs tēn phloga. Kai touto hēmas ou monon ho megas edidaxe Mōysēs, alla kai ē hagia nymphē, peri hēs ho thespesios legei Paulo?" e Hērmosamēn hymas heni andri parthenon agnēn parastēsai tǭ Christǭ. » Hautē gar en tǭ “Dsmati tōn asmatōn pros ton nymphion boą " e« Deixon moi tēn opsin sou, kai achoutison moi tēs phōnēs sou, hoti hē phōnē sou hēdeia, kai hē opsis sou hōraia. » Ek gar B tōn peri autou logōn dexamenē ton erōta, ouk archeitai tois logois, alla kai autę̄s hiepachouski pothei tēs phōnēs. Kai pterōtheisa tois peri tis hōras autou diēgēmasi, kai autēs ephietai tēs theōrias, tais eirēmenais euphēmiais to philtron sēmaiϑousa. « Deixēon moi, phēsi, tēn opsin sou, kai achoutison moi tēs phōnēēs sou, hoti hē phōnē sou hēdeia, kai hē opsis sou hōraia. » Touton tou kallous kai ho tautēs promnēstōr kai nnmphostolos erastheis, ho thespesios, phēmi, Paulos, tēn erōtikēn echeinēn aphēke phōnēn" «Tis hēmas chōridei apo tēs agapēs tou Christou? Thlipsis, hē stenochōria, hē limos, ē diōgmos, hē gymnotēs, hē kindynos, ē machaira? kathōs gegraptai" hoti heneka sou thanatoumetha holē» tēn hēmeran, elogisthēmen hōs prodata sphagēs. n Eita kai tēs karterias hypodeiknysi tēn aitian. e« En toutois gar, phēsi, pasi hypernikōmen dia tou agapēsantos hēmas Theou. » Schopoumenoi gar tines onte: pinōn apēlausamen agathōn, kai hōs ouk hēmeis hēgapēsamen prōtoi, all᾽ agapēthentes pēsamen" kai misountes hēgapēthēmen, kai echthroi ontes chatēllagēmen " ouk autoi tychein tōn diallagōn hicheteusantes, alla ton Monogenēę̄ dexamenai paraklēthentes? kai pros toutois logizomenoi ton zōopoion stauron, ton hyper hēmōn staurōthenta, ta sōtēria pathē, tou thanatou tēn paulan, tēn dotheisan hēmin tēs anastaseōs elpida. Tauta kai ta toiauta schopoumenoi tōn prospixtontōn hēmin periginometha skythrōpōn, kai tōn euergesiōn tēn mnēmēn paratithentes tę̄ proschaerǭ theią tou sōmatos, pheromen aspasiōs tēn tōn anichrōn prosdolēn. ᾿Antitalanteuontes gar tǭ peri ton Despotēn philtrǭ panta ta tou biou lypēra, koupha lian heuriskomen. Kan ta terpna de hapanta kai thymērē dokounta kata tauton synagagōmen, antistathmōmenos ho theios pothos, skias adranestera, chei antheōn heearinōn euphthartotera deiknysi. Tauta kai dia tōn eirēmenōn, kai dia tōn lechthēsomenōn, sēmainei saphōs. e Pepeismai gar, phēsin, hoti oute thanatos, oute zōē, oute angeloi, oute arkai, outi dynameis, oute enestōta, oute mellonta, oute hypsō- ma, oute bathos, oute tis ktisis hetera, dynēsetai hēmas chōrisai apo tēs agapēs tou Theou, tēs en Christǭ Iēsou tǭ Kyriǭ hēmōn. n Epeidę̄ gar anō ta skythrōpa mona tetheikōs, parexētase thlipsin, kai stenochōrian, kai diōgmon, kai limon, kai gymnotēta, kai kindynon, kai machairan, toutesti tēn biaian sphagēn " eikotōs entautha, kai ta thymērē protithēsi tois algeinois, tǭ thanatǭ tēn zōēn, ta noēta «hois aisthētois, tois horōmenois tas aoratous dynameis, tois parousi kai pariousi ta mellonta te kai ta menonta " pros toutois, tēs geennēs to bathos, kai tēs basileias to hypsos. Tauta de panta parexetasas, kai heurōn hapanta tǭ philtrǭ parachōrounta, kai ta lypēra kai ta thymērē, kai tēs agapēs tēn sterēsin tēs en geennę̄ kolaseōs pikroteran " kai deixas hōs, eiper hoion te ēn, euleto an meta tēs theias agapēs tēn epeilēmenēn kolasin, ē dicha tautēs tēn epēngelmenēn tōn ouranōn basileian, methyōn tǭ pothǭ ta mē hyphestōta zētei, kai tauta synchrina: tǭ theiǭ philtrǭ philoneichei. e« Oute hypsōma gar, phēsin, oute bathos, oute tis ktisis hetera dynēsetai hē las chōrisai apo tēs agapēs tou Theou, tēs en Christǭ Iēsou tǭ Kyriǭ hēmōn. n Ou gar monon, phēsi, pantōn homou tōn horōmenōn kai aoratōn to peri ton Sōtēra kai Lytrōtēn protithēmi philtron, alla kai ei tis hetera ktisis tautēs kai meizōn kai kalliōn anaphaneiē, ou peisei! me tēn agapēn allaxasthai" ᾿Alla kan ta thymērē tis paraschę̄ dicha tautēs, ou dexomai - kan epagagę̄ dia tautēn ta skythrōpa, heperasta moi phaneitai, kai lian erasmia " kai ho dia tautēn limos pasēs moi tryphēs thymēresteros, kai eirēnēs hēdiōn ho diōgmos, kai hē gymnotēs halourgidos kai chrysopastōn himatiōn chariestera " kai ho kindynos pasēs adeias glychyteros, kai ē biaia sphagē patēs hairetōtera zōēs. Hē gar aitia tōn pathōn, psychagōgia moi ginetai. Dia gar ton erastēn homou kai erōmenon dechomai tas toutōn niphadas. e Ton gar mē gnonta hamartian hyper hēmōn hamartian epoiēsen, hina hēmeis genōmetha theou dikaiosynē en autǭ. ---- -Hos plousios hōn di᾽ hēmas eptōcheusen, hina hēmeis tę̄ echeinou ptōcheią ploutēsōmen,» Kai " « Exēïorasen hēmas ek tēs kataras tou nomou, genomenos hyper hēmōn katara. » Kai " « Etapeinōsen heauton, genomenos hypēkoos mechri thanatou, thanatou de staurou. » Kai e« "Eti hamartōlōn ontōn hēmōn, Chri: stos hyper hēmōn apethane. » Tauta kai ta toiauta logizomenos, ouk an dexaimēn tēn tōn ouranōn basileian, dicha tēs peri toutōn agapēs " ouk an phygoimi tēn en geennę̄ timōrian, eiper eikos ēn ton tautēn echouta kolasin hypomenein. Touto kai allachou didaskei saphōs " « Hē Hyar agapē tou Theou synechei hēma:, krinantas touto, hoti heis hyper pantōn apethanen, hina hoi zōntes, mēketi heautois zōsin, alla tǭ hypir autōn apothanonti kai anastanti. » HoI toinyn mē hechytois zōntes, alla tǭ hyper autōn apothanonti kai anastanti, panta hyper autou kai drasai kai pathein asmenōs anechontai. Kai ta tę̄ physei de megala, kai chalepa pathēmata, tǭ phōntri» synkrinōn, mikra legei kai euphora. e« To gar parautika, phēsin, elaphron tēs thlipseōs hēmōn, kath᾽ ergazetai hēmin. Eita kai pō: dei synkrinein d:daskei" « Mē skopountōn hēmōn ta blepomena, al᾽ ta mē blepomena " ta gar blepomena proskaira" ta hoe mē blepomena aiōnia. » Prosēke: gar, phtti, paratithenai tois men parousi ta mellonta, tois xe proskairois ta aiōnia, tę̄ de thlipsei tēn doxan ᾿ hē men gar echei to parautika, hē de to aiōnion “ toutou charin hautē men kouphē kai euphoros, ekeinē de polytelēs te kai barytimos. Tautę̄ dē kai to chaϑ᾽ hyperdolēn amphoterois prostetheike, kai tǭ elaphoǭ tę̄: B thlipseōs, kai tǭ barei tēs doxēs, Kai tauta gar, phēsin, hyperdallontōs kai smikra, kai koupha, protchaira " kakeina hōsautōs meth᾽ hyperdolis x»doxa, kai polytelē, kai barytima, kai aiōnia. Kii terōthei homoiōs boą e« Eudochō en astheneeais, en hydresin, en anankais, en diōgmois, en achatastasiais hyper Christou. Hotan gar asthenō, tote dynatos eimi. » Toutǭ kai ho mega? Petros tetrōmenos tǭ pothǭ, xato " all᾽ ameinon hypeladen hepomenos arnēthēnai, hē pheugōn homologēsai. Hoti gar erōtos hēn, kai ou thrasytētos, hē acholouthēsis ekgonos, ta pragmati s martyrei. Oude gar meta tēn arnēsin katalipein ēnescheto ton didaskalon " all᾽ eklause men pikrōs, hōs historia didaskei, kai tēn hēttan apōxyrati. Prosēdreuse de tois tou philtrou desmois katechomenos. Kai mentoi kai ta tēs anastaseōs dexamenos Euangelia, prōtos ton taphon chatelade " kai en tē Galilaią de palin halieuōn, eita mathōn auton einai ton Kyrion, ton epi tēs ēïonos hestōta, kai proudi:legomenon, ouk ēnescheto men tou porthmiou teron diatemnontos tēs thalassēs ta nōta " epothēse de hypopteros genomenos di᾽ autou aeros tachista chkataladein tēn aktēn. Epeidē de pterōn hē physis esterēto, chrētai men anti tou aeros tois hydasin, anti de pterōn tais chersi. Dianēchomenos de kat:lamdanei ton agapōmenon, kai athlon lamthanei tou Ō dromou, tēn tōn allōn protimēsin epeidē kathisai prosetaxe, kai ta heurethenta sitia dieneime, tēs pros auton euthys ērxato dialexeōs, erōmenk: men dēthen, kai pythomenos poson echoi to philtro,, apokalyptōn de tois allois tou megalou Petrou ton erōta « Simōn gar Petre, ephē, phileis me plxn toutōn? » Ho de auton eis martyrian echaless tou philtrou “« Kyrie, gar, eipe, sy hoidas hoti philō se» Emthateueis gar eis tas tōn anthrōpōn nchas. chei saphōs epiptatai ta tēs dianoias chinemata, chei ou lanthanei s: tōn anthrōpinōn ouden. Ginōskei? tar panta, ta eschata, kai ta archaia. Pros toutois ho Despotēs epēgage " e Poimaine ta prodata mon. » Egō men gar, phēsin, anendeēs ᾿ euergesian de me- Huistēn hēgoumai, tōn emōn prodatōn tēn epimeleian, kai tēn eis ekeina kēdemonian eis emauton anadechomai. Prosēkei toinyn se, hēs apolaueis promētheias, metadidonai tois homodoulois, kai boschein, hōs boschę̄, kai ō? poimainę̄, poimainein, kai ēn opheileis moi charin, di᾽ echeinōn echtinnyein, Tauta palin kai dis ho Despotēs ēreto, kai dis ho megas apechrinato Petro?, kai dis tou poimenos tēn cheirotonian edexato. Epeidē de kai tritę̄ prosēnechthē peusis, ouk eth᾽ homoiōs tharsaleōs kai adeōs ho makarios apochrinetai Petro? psychę̄, kai agōnią tę̄ phēphǭ, kai dedoiken, hyphorōmenos, mē heteran arnēsin ho Despotēs protheōrōn, } tōn tēs agapēs rhēmatōn katagelą " anedrame gar honous eis ta protera, kai anemēsen auton, hōs ēdē kai proteron pollakis men mechri thanatou mē katalipein diischyrisato ton didaskalon, ēkouse de hōs e Prin alechtora phōnēsai, tris aparnēsę̄ me. » Kai heuren, ou tēn oikeian hyposchesin peratoumenēn, alla «ou Despotou bedaioumenēn tēn prorrhēsin. Ē toutōn auton ededitteto mnēmē, kai ouk eia thaosaleōs «hēn armodian prospherein apokrisin. ᾿All᾽ exeias men kai pikras edexato tas achidas" parechōrēse de homōs tǭ Despotę̄ tēs gnōseōs" ouk antiteinōn, hōs to proteron, oude legōn e Kan deę̄ me syn soi apothanein, ou mē se aparnēsomas. » ᾿Alla tēs men agapēs auton echein synistora phaskōn ton Despotēn, achridē de tōn holōn gnōsin par᾽ autǭ einai monǭ tǭ poiētę̄ tōn holōn homologōn e Kyrie, gar, hexē, sy panta hoida:, sy panta ginōskeis, sy hoiidas hoti philō se. » “Hoti men gar philō, kai oidas, kai martyreis. Ei de kai diamenō philōn, saphesteron hoidas hautos. Ouden gar egō peri tōn esomenōn erō, oude zygomachēsō peri hōn ouk epistamai" emathon tę̄ peirą mē antilegein tǭ Despotę̄. Sy de tēs alētheias pēgē. sy tēs gnōseōs axyssos - tois sois drois emmenein dedidagmai. Touto ty deos autou theasamenos ho Despotēs, kai to philtron de achridōs epista menos, tę̄ proagoreusei tēs teleutēs lyei ton phodon, kai didōsi tę̄ agapę̄ tēn msrtyrian, kai tou Petrou «hēn homologian kyroi, kai tǭ helkei tēs arnēseōs prospherii tēs homologias to pharmakon. Dia touto gar oimai kai triplēn tautēn apētēsen" hina isariϑma tois helkesin epithę̄ ta pharmaka, kai gymnōsę̄ «hoi? parouai tōn mathētōn tēs agapēs tēn phloga. Hē toinyn prorrhēsis tēs teleutēs, kai ton Petron epsychagōgei, kai tous allous edidasken, hōs oikonomia? ēn, all᾽ ou gnōmēs hē arnēsis, Kai touto autos ho Sōtēr kai Kyrio? hēmōn hēnixato, pro? auton eirēkōs" e« Simōn, Simōn, exētēsato ho Satanas siniatai hymas hōs ton siton, chagō edeēthēn peri sou, hine mē eklipę̄ ē pistis sou" alalch kai sy pote epistre nas, stirixon tous adelphous syn. » "Hōsper gar ēchōn sou, kai hēs apolaueis epikourias metados " kai mē kas. Toutou gar se charin kai prosptaisai synchōrō, kai pesein ouk eō, stasin tois salenomenois dia sou mēchanōmenos. Houtō tēn oikoumenēn saleuomenēn ho megas houtos a«tylos epēreise, kai katapesein ouk eia5s9 pantelōs, all᾽ anōrthōse, kai edrchian kai paroinoumenos hyper toutou hēneicheto, kai aikizomenos hēdeto. Kai exiōn ek tou ponērou synedriēu syn tǭ homoxzygǭ echairen, hoti katēxiōthē hyper tou onomatos tou Despotou atimasthēnai. Kai eis desmōtiria de ballomenos, egannyto, kai euphraineto. Kai epeidē hypo Nerōnos tēn dia staurou hyper tou stau. rōthentos katedikasthē sphagēn, parekalei tous prosēlōthēnai" deisas, hōs eichas, mē hē tou pathous tautotēs, ison autǭ para tōn anoētōn eisenenchoi to geras. Dia touto katō prosēlōthēnai tas cheiras, kai anō tous podas hiketeue. To gar eschaton haireisthai, ouk en tę̄ timę̄ monon, alla kai en tę̄ atimia memathēken. Ei de kai dekakis, kai pentēchontachis, touton hypomeinai ton thanaton hoion te hēn edexato an meta pasēs hēdonēs, tǭ theiǭ pyrpoloumenos pothǭ, Touto de kai ho theios Paulos boą, nyn men legōn᾽ « Kathēmeran apothnēskō, nē tēn hymeteran kauchēsin, hēn echō en Christǭ Iēsou" » nyn de" e Christǭ syynestaurōmai, Zō de ouk eti egō, zę̄ de en emō Christos.» Oukoun ho ton erōta ton theion dexamenos, pantōn men homou tōn gēïnōn kataphronei, patei de apatas tas tou sōmatos hēdona:" hyperorą ploutou kai doxēs, kai tę̄s para anthrōpōn timę̄? arachniōn ouden diapherein hypolamthanei tēn basilikēn halourgid:" tous polyteleis tōn lithōn tais para tas ochthas hygeian tou sōmatos, oude symphoran tēn noson ap᾿ kalei, oude dyspraxian tēn penian prosagoreuei, oude ploutǭ kai tryphę̄ tēn euxaimonian horizetai " ochthais pararrheousi dendra, kai pros oudena toutōn histamenois, aei heeoichenai toutōn ekaston hēgeitai kalōs. Homoiōs gar kai ᾿penia kai ploutos, kai y hygeia kai nosos, timē te kai atimia, kai talla, hosa tōn anthrōpōn paratrechei tēn physin, ou para tois autois aei menonta theōreitai, alla tous chechtēmegous ameidonta, kai ex allōn eis allous diēnekōs metathainonta. Polloi men gar ex euporias piptousin eis penian eschatēn " polloi de ek penētōn eis ton tōn plousiōn katalogon anadainousi. Kai nosos de, kai hygeią dia pantōn, hōs epos eipein, sōmatōn, kai peinōntōn kai tryphōntōn, hodeuei. ᾿Aretē de kai philosophia, monē menei agathōn. Niką gar kai lę̄stou cheiras, kai sykophantou glōssan, kai polemikōn belōn kai doratōn niphadas " ou ginetai pyretou parēnalōma, oude klydōnos parergon, oude nanagiou zēmia. Tautēs ho chronos ouk aphaireitai, all᾽ auxei tēn dynamin. Hylē de tautēs hē peri ton Theon agapē. ᾿Adynaton gar katorthōsai philosophian ton mē thermon tou Theou genomenon erastēn" mallon de auto touto philosophia kaleitai. Sophia gar ho Theos kai esti kai kaleitai. Peri men gar tou Theou tōn holōn ho makarios legei Paulas " « ᾿Aphthartǭ, aoratǭ, monǭ sophǭ Theǭ " » peri de tou Monogenous phēsi" «e Christos, Theou dynamis, kai Theou sophia.» Kai palin" e« Edothē hēmin sophia apo Theou, dikaiosynē te kai hagiasmos, kai apolytrōsis. » Ho toinyn tǭ onti philosophos, kai philotheos an eikotōs kaloito. Ho de philotheos tōn allōn. hapantōn hyperphronōn, kai ton erōmenon monon horōn, pantōn homou tēn echeinou prokithēsi therapeian" ekeina mona, kai legōn, kai prattōn, kai logizomenos, ha ton agapōmenon areskei kai therapeuei, kai mysattomenos hapanta hosa ekeinos apagoreuei. Tautēs ᾿Adam tēs agapēs holigōrēsas, kai peri ton euergetēn agnōmōn genomenos, akanthas, kai ponous, kai talaipōrias edrepsato tēs acharistias misthon. Tautēn !“Adel tǭ chorēgǭ tōn agathōn bedaian diaphylaxas, kai tōn men ga-᾿ stros hēdonōn kataphronēsas, tēn de tou Theou pro-᾿ elomenos therapeian, tois achēratois katekosmēthē stephanois, kai dia pasēs geneas hodeuei, tēn euphēmian dia tēs mnēmēs karpoumenos. Tautēn Henōch alēthē (a kai gnēsian ktēsamenos, kai espeire kalōs, kai etherisen ameinon, kai tēs tou Theou therapeias misthon xchymisato tēn metathesin, kai tēn athanaton teōs zōēn, kai tēn dia tou biou pantos eukleē kai athanaton mnēmēn. Ti an tis eipoi peri tēs tou Nōe philotheias, hēn oude tōn paranomōn diēlenxen hē phthora" alla pantōn echchlinantōn, kai tēn enantian proelomenōn, monos tēn eutheian hōdeuse, pantōn homou ton Poiētēn protitheis? Hou charin, kai monos meta tōn paidōn tēs sōtērias tetychēke, kai sperma chateleiphϑē tę̄ physei, kai spinthēr ephylachthē tǭ genei. Houtō Melchisedek, ho megas archiereus, tōn ta eidōla psedein proelomenōn tēn anoian bdelyxamenos, Xǭ Poiētę̄ tōn holōn tēn oikeian hierōsynēn anethēken. Hou charin, ton megan ekeinon misthon echomisato, typos genomenos kai skia tou kata alētheian archēn hēmerōn, mēte zōēs telos echontos. ᾿Alla gar' hodǭ badizōn ho logos. pros auton aphiketo, ton chrēmatisanta tou Theou philon, ton achridōs tēs tilias pous nomous kai phylaxanta kai didaxanta. Tis gar agnoei tōn houtō pōs ta theia pepaideumenōn, hopōs hypēkousen ᾿Adraam ho megas patriarchēs kalesanti tǭ Theǭ, hopōs tēn patrǭan katelipen oikian, kai tēs patridos tēn xenēn proeileto? epeidēper hapax ērasthē tou chechlēchoto?, kai ta alla panta deutera tēs ekeinon philias edochirmase thesthai, kai pollais pollakis dyscholiais peripesōn, ou katelipe ton erōmenon, hōs tais epangeliais ouk epithenta to peras" alla kai dipsei piezomenos, kai piein hydōr aph᾽ hōn hōryxe phreatōn eirgomenos, oute kata tou kalesantos edyscheranen, oute tous adikountas hēmynato. ᾿Edexato kai limou prosdolēn, kai ouk esdeos ton tēs agapēs pyrson " aphę̄rethē kai tēn homozyga, kai hōrą lampousan, kai sōphrosynę̄ kekosmēmenēn, kai dia pantōn autǭ thymērē ton bion parechousan" kai ou synaphę̄rethē tēn peri ton Theon agapēn tę̄ gynaiki. ᾿Alla kai epamynontos tou Theou, kai tēn sthai tēs adikias tas prosdolas, homoiōs diemeinen agapōn. Kai presdytēs egeneto, kai patērouch egeneto, kai peri auton patera poiēsein epangeilamenon men, ou pepoiēkota de teōs, homoiōs diekeito. Epeidē de opse pote, kai tēn epangelian elade, kai tēs Sarrhas tēn physin enechēse, kai tou gērous hyperedē tous orous, kai tou Isaak apephanthē patēr, oligon men chronon tēs enteuththenthymēdias apēlause meirakion (e to paidion genomenon, prosinenchein eis thysian prosetachϑē tǭ dedōkoti, kai to dōron antidounai tǭ ch᾽ rēgǭ, kai hiereus genesthai tou tēs epangelias karpou, kai prosagagein eis thysian tōn ethnōn tēn megalēn pēgēn, kai aimati monogenous paidos chataphoinixai tas cheiras. ᾿All᾽ homōs tauta panta, kai eti toutōn pollǭ pleiona, tēs thysias echousēs, ouk anteteinen ho patriarchēs, oude ta tēs physeōs proudaleto dikaia, oude tas hyposcheseis eis meson parēgaien, oude gērōchomias kai taphēs anemnēsthē ᾿ alla panta logismon anthrōpinon rhipsas, kai pothǭ pothon antn taxas, kai nomǭ nomon antistēsas, tǭ tēs physeōs «to theion, edramen eis tēn hierourgian, anendoiattōs epenenkein tēn plēgēn, ei mē tacheōs ho Megalydōroz, tēn prothymian dexamenos, hekōlyse tēn sphagēn. ᾿Alla gar ouk oida, ei tis an archestis logos, eis tēn tou erōtos toude diēgēsin. Ho gar mēde mon. genous pheisamenos paidos, epeidē touto prosetaxen ho erōmenos, tinos ouk an dia touton hyperephronēse, kai autos de ho megas Isaak, tēn autēn agapēn peri ton Despotēn ektēsato. Kai ho touton de huios, Iachōd ho patriarchēs. Adousi de amphoterōn to philotheon hai theiai Graphai " kai autos de ho tōn holōn theos oudamou tēs rhizēs diachōrizei tous kchladous, alla Theon heauton ᾿Adraam,, kai Isaak, kai Iachōd onomazei., Toutōn esti karpos eusedēs kai Iōsēph, ho en neois presdytēs, kai en preadytais gennaios " hou to philotheon oute phthonos ēnalōsen, oute douleia chaiesoesen, ou despoinēs esylēse kolakeia, ouk apeilē kai deos emaranen " ou sykophantia, kai desmōtērion, kai chronos makros katepa) aisen" ouk exousia, kai dynasteia, kai tryphē, kai ploutos, tēs dianoias exedalen " all᾽ emeinen homoiōs kai blepōn ton erō" menon, kai tous echeinou nomous plērōn. Tautēn ho A Mōsēs tēn agapēn ktēsamenos, tēs en basileiois diaitēs kataphronēsas, mallon eileto synchachoucheisthai tǭ laǭ tou theou, hē proskairon echein hamartias apolausin. Kai ti dei mēkynein kai pera tou metrou ton logon ekteinein? Tę̄ theią gar agapę̄ pasa tōn prophētōn hē hetairia chechrēmenē, kai kosmoumenē, kai tēn teleiotatēn katōrthōsen aretēn, kai aeimnēston to kleos katelipe. Kai mentoi kai tōn apostolōn ochoros, kai tōn martyrōn hoi dēmoi, touto to pyr eisdexamenoi, pantōn men hypereidon tōn horōmenōn, pasēs de zōēs hēdistēs ta myria tōn thanatōn eidē proeilonto. HeErasthentes gar tou theion kallous, kai to peri hēmas tou Theou logisamenoi philtron, kai tas myrias enthymēthentes euergesias, aischron hēgēsanto, mēte to kallos ekeino pothēsai to aphraston, kai acharistoi peri ton euergetēn gene» sthai. Toutou charin, mechri thanatou tas pros auton synthēkas ephylaxan. Toutou «ou kallous erasthentes kai hoi neoi tēs aretēs athlētai, hōn synegrapsamen en syntomǭ ton bion, eis tous megalous ekeinous, kai tēn anthrōpeian physin nichōntas, eisepēdē tan athlous, Touto de saphōs autous exepaideusan hai theiai Graphai. Rhallousi gar meta tou megalou Dabid" e Kyrie ho theos mou, hōs emegalynthēs sphodra. Exomologēsin kai megaloprepeian enedysō, anadallomenos phōs hōs himation " ekteinōn ton ouranon, hōsei derrhin"» kai talla hosa tēn sophian autou didaskei kai dynamin. Kai palin" « Ho Kyrios edasileusen, euprepeian enedysato“ enedysato Kyrios dynamin, kai periezōsato" kai gar katōrthōse tēn oikoumenēn, hētis ou saleuthēsetai.» Kantautha de hōsautōs kai sophia kai kallos ekērychthē, kai dynamis. Kai heterōthi de" « Hōraïzos kallei para tous huious tōn anthrōpōn.» Hentautha de, kai to anthrōpinon tou Theou Logou heuphēmēse kallos, Hymnei de kai tēn sophian" e« Exechythē gar, phēsi, charis en cheilesi sou. n Hypodeiknysi kai tēn dynamin " « Perixōsai tēn rhomphaian sou epi ton mēron don, dynate" tę̄ hōraiotēti son, kai tǭ kallei sou, kai henteine, kai kateuodou, kai basę̄lene, heneken alētheias, kai praotētos, kai dikaiosynēs. » Tauta gar autou, kai kallos, kai ploutos, kai dynamis. Kai Hētaias de boą e Tis houtos ho paragenomenos ex Edōm? erythēma himatiōn autou ek Bosor? Houtos hōraios en stolę̄ autou, bia meta ischyos. » Oude gar hē anthrōpeia stolē to theion chatechalypse kallos " alla kai tautēn peridedlēmeno?, rygas apo tēs hōras aphiēsin, hōs tous horōntas biazesthai kai katathelgein eis erōta. Touto kai hagia Nymphē pros auton en tois GLsmasi tōn asmatōn dialegomenē phēsi" e Myron ekkenōthen onoma sou. Dia touto neanides ēgapēsan se’ eilkysan se" opisō ssy eis osmēn lyrōn sou edramon. n» Hai gar neanikai psykai, tēs sēs euōdias metalamdanousai, deousi chataladein se pothousai. kai hoion halysei tini tę̄ osmę̄ katechomenai, diarrhēxai ton desmon ouk anechontai " glykys gar houtos, kai ethelousiōs hautais perikeimenos. Toutois symphōnei kai tou theiou Paulou ta rhēmata" «e Christou euōdia esmen, en tois sōzomenois, kai en tois apollymenois hois men hosmē thanatou eis thanaton " hois de hosmē zōēs eis xōēn.» Kalon toinyn auton hypo tēs theias Graphēs didaskomenoi, kai plouton aphraston echonta, kai sophias onta pēgēn, kai tosauta dynamenon hosa bouletai, kai phę̄ anthrōpią chrōmenon ametrētǭ, kai hēmerotētos potamous anadlyzonta, kai dia -pantōn heuergetein monon tous anthrōpous ethelonta " kai ta myria, kai ton noun hyperdainonta, tōn euergesiōn eidē B hypo tōn theophorōn andrōn didaskomenoi, tois glychesi tēs agapēs etrōthēsan belesi, kai melē tēs nymphēs ontes, met᾽ ekeinēs boōsi" « Tetrōmenoi agapēs hēmeis. » Ho gar megas Iōannēs boą “ « de ho amnos pou Theou, ho airōn tēn hamartian tou kosmou. » Ho de prophētēs Hēsaïas, hōs gegenēmena ta esomena proethespise legōn " e Autos etraumatisthē dia tas hamartias hēmōn, kai memalakistai dia tas anomias hēmōn " paideia eirēnēs hēmōn e p᾿ auton " tǭ mōlōpi autou hēmeis iathēmen᾽ » kai ta alla, hosa peri tōn sōtēriōn pathōn diexerchetai. Kēryttei kai Paulos, boōn" e Hos ge tou idiou Huiou ouk epheisato, all᾽ hyper hēmōn pantōn paredōken auton, pōs ouki kai syn autǭ ta panta hēmin charisētai? » Kai palin “᾿ «Hyper Christou presdeuomen, hōs tou Theou parakalountos di᾽ hēmōn“ deometha hyper Christou, katallagēte tǭ Theǭ " ton gar mē gnonta hamartian hyper, hēmōn hamartian epoiēsen, hina hēmeis genōmetha Theou dikaiosynē en autǭ. ᾽ Tauta, kai hosa toiauta, para tois hypēretais «ou theiou logou gegenēmenois heuriskontes, dechontai pantachothen tēs theias agapēs ta kentra, kai pantōn hyperphronountes, phantazontai ton erōmenon, kai pro tēs elpizomenēs aphtharsias, to sōma pneumatikon apetelesan. Touto kai hēmeis to philtron dexōmetha, kai tǭ kallei tou nymphiou chatathelgomenoi, kai tōn epēngelmenōn agathōn ephiemenoi, kai to tōn euergesiōn entrepomenoi plēthos, kai tas tēs acharistias dediotes euthyna:, agapōntes kai phylakes hautou tōn nomōn genōmetha. Houtos gar oros philias, to tauta philein, kai tauta misein’ dia touto tǭ ᾿Adraam. elegen " «Eulogēsō tous eulogountas se, kai tous katarōmenous se katarasomai. » Kai ho Dadid pros hauton "« Emoi de lian etimēthēsan hoi philoi son, ho Theos. n» Kai palin «Ouki tous mipounkas se, Kyrie, emisēsa, kai epi tois echthrois sou exetēchomēn? Teleion misos emisoun autous " eis echthrous egenonto moi. » Kai heterōthi " « Paranomous emisēsa, ton de nomon son ēgapēsa. n Kai allachou" e Hōs ēgapēsa ton nomon syn, Kyrie, holēn tēn hēmeran meletē mou estin. » Henarges oun tekmērion tēs peri
How great the athletes of virtue are, and how many and what kind of crowns they shine with, the stories we have written about them clearly teach. For even if these do not contain all their contests, the few suffice to show the character of the whole life. The touchstone does not consume all the gold brought to it, but, rubbed against a little of it, shows it to be genuine or base; and likewise from a few arrows shot one can learn exactly whether an archer shoots excellently and hits the mark, or goes wide, untrained in the art. So too one can recognise the other craftsmen, not to name each one: runners, tragic actors, helmsmen, shipwrights, doctors, farmers, and in short all who practise any art; for a little trial suffices both to show the art of those who know it and to expose the ignorance of those who have only the name. So the few things written of each one’s achievements suffice, as I said, to teach the whole purpose of the life. But we ought now to examine, inquire and learn exactly from what starting point they embraced this way of life, and by what reasoning they reached the very summit of philosophy. For that it was not by trusting the strength of the body that they loved things beyond human nature, passed beyond the laws laid down for it, and … the contests, experience is a clear teacher. No one without a share in this philosophy has ever displayed their endurance. Shepherds, it is true, [live in the open air], but not always; they use caves, go back to their homes, cover their feet with shoes and the other parts of the body with soft clothing; and twice or three times a day, perhaps even four, … For when such food [undergoes] the change, and, strained as it were through a sieve, reaches the liver and undergoes transformation into blood, it goes into the heart through the hollow vein; heated there, it [passes] as through channels [to all] the parts of the body; and wherever it comes, it not only waters but also warms like fire, and keeps the body warmer than soft garments. For it is not, as some suppose, tunics and cloaks and mantles that give warmth to the body; otherwise they would also warm the wood and stones they touch; but no one has ever seen wood or stone made warmer by garments. So these do not give the body warmth; they keep the body’s warmth in: they keep off the assault of cold air, and, receiving the vapours that come out of the body, they are warmed by them and press warmer against the body. Experience bears witness: often, when we lie down on a cold bed, by the contact of the body we make warm the bedding that was cold a moment before. So food warms the body more than any garment; and those who partake of it to satiety have a defence sufficient against the [cold], for they [fortify] the body with it and prepare it to withstand that season of the year. But those who enjoy neither food nor drink every day, and when they do, do not wait for satiety but [stop] while appetite is at its height, … able [to nourish] the body, but either eat grass like the irrational animals or use only soaked pulses, what warmth could they draw from such fare? How much blood, or what drop of blood, could come from it? The practices of others, then, are in no way like those of these men. Their clothing is not the same: theirs is very rough … not similar but diametrically opposite. For shepherds and others like them, any time is time for food; they define the time by appetite, and if hunger comes on in the morning, they take food at once; and they take whatever is at hand. For it has not been laid down for them to eat this and by no means that, but they freely enjoy whatever they wish. Here there are fixed days and times, kinds of food and measures; and satiety in it is … So let none of the fault-finders bring farmers, shepherds and sailors into the midst [to belittle] the contests of these men. For the farmer, having toiled by day, is cared for at home at night, his wife providing him with every care. The shepherd likewise shares in all the things we mentioned. The sailor receives the sun’s rays on his body, but applies to it the treatment the waters give; for he swims as much as he likes, and applies the coolness of the waters as a remedy against the flame of the sun. But these men enjoy no care from anyone. No wives live with them, to contrive every kind of comfort for their husbands. Nor, when the sun strikes more hotly, do they seek the relief of the waters; nor in winter do they set food against the frost, nor do they apply the rest of the night like a medicine to the labours of the day; for the sweats of the night are greater and more numerous than those of the day. In it they take up the wrestling with sleep and do not consent to that sweet defeat, but overcome that most pleasant tyranny, and continue all night hymning the Master. No one, then, outside their philosophy has displayed their endurance. And if no one else among men has been able to hold out against such labours, it is clear that love for God made them pass beyond the bounds of nature; set on fire by the torch from above, they gladly bear the assault of the frost, and with the dew that comes from there they soothe the flame of the sun. This love feeds them and waters them and clothes them, gives them wings and teaches them to fly, prepares them to pass beyond heaven, shows them the Beloved as far as possible, kindles their longing by the image of the vision, rouses their affection, and lights the flame more fiercely. For as the lovers of bodies provide fuel for their affection from the sight of the ones they love, and make that frenzy harsher, so those who receive the goads of divine love, picturing that divine and pure beauty, make the barbs of love sharper, and the more they long to enjoy it, the more they drive satiety away. For satiety follows the pleasure of bodies, but divine love does not accept the laws of satiety.
Such was Moses, the great lawgiver. He was often counted worthy of the divine vision, as far as is possible for a man, often enjoyed the blessed voice, spent forty days at a time inside the darkness, and received the divine legislation; yet he not only did not reach satiety but acquired a fiercer and warmer desire. As though he had received a kind of stupor from the drunkenness of that love and been driven to frenzy by affection, he forgot his own nature and desired to see what it is not lawful to see. As though forgetting [God’s] sovereignty and reckoning only with his affection, he said to the God of all: ‘See, you say to me, “You have found favour with me, and I know you above all.” If then I have found favour before you, show yourself to me; let me see you clearly.’ Such drunkenness did he receive from divine love; and the drunkenness did not end the thirst but made it fiercer; the increase of drink became an intensifying of desire, and enjoyment sharpened the appetite. As fire, the more fuel it receives, shows the greater force (for it grows by the addition of material and is not dulled), so love for God is kindled by the contemplation of divine things and receives from it a fiercer and warmer force; and the more one dwells on divine things, the more one kindles the flame of love. This was taught us not only by the great Moses but also by the holy bride, of whom the godly Paul says: ‘I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.’ For she cries to the Bridegroom in the Song of Songs: ‘Show me your face, and let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.’ Having received love from the words spoken about him, she is not content with the words, but longs to hear his very voice; and, winged by the stories of his beauty, she desires the sight of him itself, signifying her affection by the praises she speaks: ‘Show me,’ she says, ‘your face, and let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.’ In love with this beauty, her matchmaker and bridal escort, the godly Paul I mean, uttered that lover’s cry: ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or famine, or persecution, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Then he shows the cause of the endurance: ‘In all these things,’ he says, ‘we are more than conquerors through God who loved us.’ For we consider who we are and what good things we have enjoyed: that we did not love first, but loved because we were loved; that we were loved while we hated, and reconciled while we were enemies, not having begged to obtain the reconciliation ourselves, but being entreated … receiving the Only-begotten; and besides this we reckon with the life-giving cross, with him who was crucified for us, the saving sufferings, the ending of death, and the hope of resurrection given to us. Considering these and similar things, we overcome the gloomy things that befall us, and setting the memory of the benefits against the passing [pain] of the body, we gladly bear the assault of what is painful. For weighing all the griefs of life against our affection for the Master, we find them very light. And if we gather together all the things that seem delightful and pleasant, divine longing, weighed against them, shows them to be feebler than a shadow and more perishable than spring flowers. He signifies this clearly both by what has been said and by what follows: ‘For I am persuaded,’ he says, ‘that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ For since above he had set down only the gloomy things, listing tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril and the sword (that is, violent slaughter), here he fittingly sets the pleasant things beside the painful: life beside death, things known by the mind beside things known by the senses, invisible powers beside visible things, things to come and abiding beside things present and passing away; and besides these the depth of Gehenna and the height of the kingdom. Having compared all these and found that all, both the painful and the pleasant, yield to his affection, and that to be deprived of love is more bitter than the punishment in Gehenna; and having shown that, if it were possible, he would choose the threatened punishment with divine love rather than the promised kingdom of heaven without it, drunk with longing he seeks things that do not exist, and strives to compare them with divine affection. ‘For neither height,’ he says, ‘nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ For not only, he says, do I set affection for the Saviour and Redeemer above all things visible and invisible together, but even if another creation greater and more beautiful than this were to appear, it would not persuade me to exchange my love. If anyone offers me pleasant things without it, I will not accept them; if anyone brings gloomy things upon me because of it, they will seem lovely and very desirable to me: famine for its sake is more pleasant to me than any luxury, persecution sweeter than peace, nakedness more charming than purple and garments shot with gold, danger sweeter than any security, and violent slaughter more to be chosen than any life. For the cause of the sufferings becomes my comfort; it is for the sake of the one who is at once lover and beloved that I receive these showers. ‘For him who knew no sin he made sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.’ ‘Who, though he was rich, became poor for our sake, so that by his poverty we might become rich.’ And: ‘He redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.’ And: ‘He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.’ And: ‘While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.’ Reckoning with these and similar things, I would not accept the kingdom of heaven without love for him; I would not flee the punishment in Gehenna, if it were likely that one who has this love should undergo punishment. He teaches this clearly elsewhere too: ‘For the love of God constrains us, since we have judged this, that one died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and rose again.’ Those, then, who live not for themselves but for him who died for them and rose again gladly bear to do and to suffer everything for him. And what are by nature great and grievous sufferings he calls small and bearable, comparing them with his affection: ‘For our momentary lightness of affliction,’ he says, ‘works for us …’ Then he teaches how one must compare: ‘while we look not at what is seen but at what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.’ For it is fitting, he says, to set the things to come beside the present, the eternal beside the temporary, glory beside affliction; the one has what is momentary, the other what is eternal; for this reason the one is light and bearable, the other costly and precious. Therefore he added ‘beyond all measure’ to both, to the lightness of the affliction and to the weight of the glory: these, he says, are beyond all measure small, light and temporary; and those likewise beyond all measure glorious, costly, precious and eternal. Elsewhere he cries out in the same way: ‘I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities for Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.’ Wounded by this longing, the great Peter too … but he thought it better to deny while following than to confess while fleeing. That his following was the offspring of love and not of rashness, the facts bear witness. For not even after the denial did he bring himself to leave his teacher; he wept bitterly, as the history teaches, and lamented his defeat, but stayed close by, held by the bonds of affection. Indeed, when he received the good news of the resurrection, he was the first to reach the tomb; and again in Galilee, when he was fishing and learned that the one standing on the shore and speaking to them was the Lord, he could not bear [the slowness] of the boat cutting across the back of the sea, but longed to become winged and reach the shore most quickly through the very air. Since nature had denied him wings, he used the waters instead of the air and his hands instead of wings. Swimming across, he reached the one he loved, and received as the prize of his race the preference over the others. For when [the Lord] had bidden them sit down and had distributed the food that was found, he at once began a conversation with him, ostensibly asking and inquiring how great his affection was, but revealing to the others the love of the great Peter. ‘Simon Peter,’ he said, ‘do you love me more than these?’ He called him as witness of his affection: ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘you know that I love you.’ For you enter the souls of men, and you plainly survey the movements of the mind, and nothing human escapes you; for you know all things, the last and the first. To this the Master added: ‘Feed my sheep.’ For I, he says, am in need of nothing; but I count the care of my sheep the greatest benefaction, and I accept the care shown to them as shown to myself. It befits you, then, to share the providence you enjoy with your fellow servants, to feed as you are fed, to shepherd as you are shepherded, and to repay through them the thanks you owe me. The Master asked this a second time, and a second time the great Peter answered, and a second time received the appointment as shepherd. But when the question was put a third time, the blessed Peter no longer answered so boldly and fearlessly; [he is troubled] in soul, anxious at the question, and afraid, suspecting that the Master, foreseeing another denial, is mocking his words of love. For his mind ran back to the past and reminded him that before too he had often insisted that he would not leave his teacher even in death, and had heard: ‘Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times’; and he found that it was not his own promise that was fulfilled but the Master’s prediction that was confirmed. The memory of these things frightened him and did not let him give the fitting answer boldly. He received sharp and bitter barbs; yet he yielded the knowledge to the Master, not resisting as before, nor saying, ‘Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.’ But he said that the Master was witness of his love, and confessed that exact knowledge of all things belongs to the Maker of all alone: ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘you know all things; you know that I love you.’ That I love you, you both know and bear witness; whether I shall continue to love, you yourself know more clearly. I will say nothing about what is to come, nor will I fight about what I do not know; I have learned by experience not to contradict the Master. You are the fountain of truth, the abyss of knowledge; I have been taught to abide by your decisions. The Master, seeing his fear and knowing his affection exactly, dissolves the fear by predicting his death, bears witness to his love, ratifies Peter’s confession, and applies the remedy of confession to the wound of the denial. For this reason, I think, he demanded the confession three times, so that he might apply remedies equal in number to the wounds, and lay bare to the disciples present the flame of his love. The prediction of his death, then, both comforted Peter and taught the others that the denial was a matter of dispensation, not of intention. Our Saviour and Lord himself hinted at this when he said to him: ‘Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and you, when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.’ For as … and share the help you enjoy, and do not … For this reason I allow you to stumble but do not let you fall, contriving through you a firm footing for those who are shaken. So this great pillar propped up the shaken world, and did not let it fall altogether, but set it upright and made it firm …; insulted for his sake, he endured, and maltreated, he rejoiced. Going out from the wicked council with his companion, he rejoiced that he had been counted worthy to be dishonoured for the name of the Master. Thrown into prisons, he was glad and joyful. And when he was condemned by Nero to death by the cross for the sake of him who was crucified, he begged … to be nailed …, afraid, as was natural, that the sameness of the suffering might win him equal honour from the foolish. For this reason he begged that his hands be nailed below and his feet above; for he had learned to choose the last place not only in honour but also in dishonour. And if it had been possible to undergo this death ten or fifty times, he would have accepted it with all pleasure, set on fire by divine longing. The divine Paul cries out the same, now saying, ‘I die every day, by the boast in you that I have in Christ Jesus’, and now, ‘I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.’ So the one who has received divine love despises all earthly things together, tramples on all the pleasures of the body, disdains wealth and glory and honour from men, considers the royal purple no different from spiders’ webs, and the costly stones [no different from] the pebbles by the banks; he does not call health of body [good fortune] nor sickness misfortune, nor name poverty adversity, nor define happiness by wealth and luxury; he rightly thinks that each of these is like the waters that flow past the trees on the banks and stay by none of them. For in the same way poverty and wealth, health and sickness, honour and dishonour, and everything else that runs past human nature, are seen not always remaining with the same people, but changing their owners and constantly passing from some to others. Many fall from prosperity into extreme poverty, and many rise from the poor into the ranks of the rich. And sickness and health travel through all bodies, so to speak, both of the hungry and of the luxurious. Virtue and philosophy alone remain a lasting good. It conquers the hands of the brigand and the tongue of the slanderer and the showers of arrows and spears in war; it does not become the spoil of fever, nor a casualty of storm, nor a loss in shipwreck. Time does not take it away, but increases its power. Its material is love for God. For it is impossible for one who has not become a warm lover of God to achieve philosophy; or rather, this very thing is called philosophy. For God both is and is called Wisdom. Of the God of the universe the blessed Paul says, ‘To the incorruptible, invisible, only wise God’; and of the Only-begotten he says, ‘Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.’ And again: ‘He became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.’ The one who is truly a philosopher, then, may fittingly also be called a lover of God. And the lover of God, disdaining all other things and looking only at the Beloved, sets his service before all things together, saying, doing and thinking only what pleases and serves the Beloved, and loathing everything that he forbids. Adam, neglecting this love and becoming ungrateful toward his Benefactor, reaped thorns and labours and miseries as the wages of his ingratitude. Abel, keeping this love firm toward the Giver of good things, despising the pleasures of the belly and choosing the service of God, was adorned with the incorruptible crowns, and travels through every generation, reaping praise through remembrance. Enoch, acquiring this love true and genuine, sowed well and reaped still better, and received as the wages of his service of God his translation, a life so far immortal, and a glorious and immortal memory for all time. What could one say of the love of God of Noah, which not even the corruption of the lawless put to shame? When all turned aside and chose the opposite, he alone travelled the straight road, setting the Maker before all things together. For this reason he alone, with his children, obtained salvation, and was left as a seed for nature and preserved as a spark for the race. So too Melchizedek, the great high priest, loathing the folly of those who chose to worship idols, dedicated his own priesthood to the Maker of the universe. For this reason he received that great reward, becoming a type and shadow of the true [high priest], who has neither beginning of days nor end of life. But the discourse, travelling along its road, has come to the very one who was called the friend of God, who exactly both kept and taught the laws of friendship. For who among those even slightly instructed in divine things does not know how Abraham, the great patriarch, obeyed God when he called him, how he left his father’s house and preferred a foreign land to his homeland? For once he had come to love the one who called him, he judged it right to set everything else second to his friendship; and though he often fell into many difficulties, he did not leave the Beloved as one who had failed to fulfil his promises. Pressed by thirst and prevented from drinking water from the wells he had dug, he neither grew vexed against the one who called him nor took vengeance on those who wronged him. He suffered the assault of famine too, and did not quench the torch of love. He was robbed of his wife, radiant in beauty and adorned with chastity, who made life pleasant for him in every way; and the love for God was not taken away with the wife. And when God helped him and … the assaults of injustice, he continued loving in the same way. He became an old man and did not become a father, and toward the one who had promised to make him a father but had not yet done so he remained disposed in the same way. When at long last he received the promise, overcame Sarah’s nature, passed beyond the bounds of old age, and was declared the father of Isaac, he enjoyed the delight of it for a short time; but when the child had become a youth, he was commanded to offer him as a sacrifice to the Giver, to give the gift back to the one who bestowed it, to become the priest of the fruit of the promise, to bring to the sacrifice the great fountain of the nations, and to redden his hands with the blood of his only son. Yet though the sacrifice involved all these things and many more besides, the patriarch did not resist; he did not plead the rights of nature, nor bring forward the promises, nor mention care in old age and burial; but, casting away all human reasoning, setting longing against longing and opposing law to law, the divine law to the law of nature, he ran to the sacred rite, [ready] to strike the blow without hesitation, had not the Bountiful Giver, accepting his zeal, quickly prevented the slaughter. But I do not know whether any words would suffice for the story of this love. For he who did not spare even his only son, because the Beloved had commanded it, what would he not have disdained for his sake? The great Isaac himself acquired the same love for the Master, and so did his son, Jacob the patriarch. The divine Scriptures sing of the love of God of both; and the God of the universe himself nowhere separates the branches from the root, but names himself the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Their pious fruit is Joseph too, an old man among the young and noble among the old, whose love of God neither envy consumed nor slavery quenched, nor his mistress’s flattery stole away, nor threat and fear withered; neither slander nor prison nor long time wore it out, nor did authority, power, luxury and wealth drive it from his mind; but he remained the same, both looking at the Beloved and fulfilling his laws. Moses, acquiring this love, despised life in the palace and chose rather to suffer ill with the people of God than to have the passing enjoyment of sin. Why lengthen the discourse and extend it beyond measure? The whole company of the prophets, possessed and adorned by divine love, achieved the most perfect virtue and left an ever-memorable fame. And the choir of the apostles and the peoples of the martyrs, receiving this fire, disdained all visible things and preferred the countless kinds of death to the sweetest life. For in love with the divine beauty, reckoning God’s affection toward us and considering his countless benefactions, they thought it shameful not to long for that ineffable beauty and to be ungrateful to the Benefactor. For this reason they kept their covenant with him until death. In love with this beauty, the new athletes of virtue too, whose lives we have written in brief, leapt into those great contests that overcome human nature. The divine Scriptures taught them this clearly. For they sing with the great David: ‘O Lord my God, how greatly you are magnified! You have clothed yourself with praise and majesty, wrapping yourself in light as in a garment, stretching out the heaven like a skin’, and the rest that teaches his wisdom and power. And again: ‘The Lord reigns; he has clothed himself with majesty; the Lord has clothed himself with power and girded himself; for he has established the world, which shall not be moved.’ Here too wisdom, beauty and power are proclaimed alike. And elsewhere: ‘Beautiful in comeliness beyond the sons of men.’ Here he praised the human beauty of God the Word. He hymns his wisdom too: ‘Grace is poured out on your lips’; and he shows his power: ‘Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your comeliness and your beauty, and bend [the bow], prosper and reign, for the sake of truth and meekness and righteousness.’ For these are his beauty, his wealth and his power. Isaiah too cries: ‘Who is this who comes from Edom, with crimson garments from Bosor? This one is beautiful in his apparel, with force and strength.’ For not even the human garment hid the divine beauty; though clothed in it, he sends out rays from his comeliness, so as to overpower those who see him and charm them into love. This is what the holy Bride too says, speaking to him in the Song of Songs: ‘Your name is ointment poured out; therefore the maidens have loved you; they have drawn you; after you we will run to the fragrance of your ointments.’ For youthful souls, sharing in your fragrance, run, longing to reach you, and, held by the fragrance as by a chain, they will not bear to break the bond; for it is sweet and laid on them by their own will. With these agree the words of the divine Paul: ‘We are the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance of death to death, to the other a fragrance of life to life.’ Being taught, then, by the divine Scripture that he is beautiful, that he has ineffable wealth, that he is the fountain of wisdom, that he can do whatever he wishes, that he shows immeasurable love for mankind and pours out rivers of gentleness, and that he wishes by all means only to do good to men; and being taught by the God-bearing men the countless kinds of his benefactions, which surpass the mind, they were wounded by the sweet arrows of love, and, being members of the Bride, they cry out with her: ‘We are wounded by love.’ For the great John cries: ‘Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’ And the prophet Isaiah foretold things to come as though they had happened, saying: ‘He was wounded for our sins and bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; by his stripe we were healed’, and the rest that he relates of the saving sufferings. Paul too proclaims, crying out: ‘He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also give us all things with him?’ And again: ‘We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For him who knew no sin he made sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.’ Finding these and similar things in those who became servants of the divine Word, they receive from every side the goads of divine love; disdaining all things, they picture the Beloved, and even before the hoped-for incorruption they have made the body spiritual. Let us too receive this affection; charmed by the beauty of the Bridegroom, desiring the good things promised, ashamed before the multitude of his benefactions, and fearing to give account for ingratitude, let us love him and become keepers of his laws. For this is the definition of friendship: to love the same things and to hate the same things. For this reason he said to Abraham: ‘I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse.’ And David says to him: ‘But to me your friends, O God, are exceedingly honoured.’ And again: ‘Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and waste away over your enemies? I hated them with perfect hatred; they became my enemies.’ And elsewhere: ‘I hated the lawless, but I loved your law.’ And elsewhere: ‘How I loved your law, O Lord! It is my meditation all the day.’ A clear proof, then, of love for …
Exod 33:13 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 11:2 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 2:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 8:35–39 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 5:21 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 8:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 3:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 2:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 5:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 5:10 (allusion, medium confidence) · 1 John 4:19 (allusion, medium confidence) · 2 Cor 5:14–15 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 4:17–18 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 12:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 26:75 (allusion, high confidence) · John 20:4 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 21:7 (allusion, high confidence) · John 21:15–17 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 26:34 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 26:35 (quotation, high confidence) · John 21:18 (allusion, medium confidence) · Luke 22:31–32 (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 5:41 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:31 (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 2:20 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 1:17 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 1:24 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 1:30 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 3:18 (allusion, medium confidence) · Gen 5:24 (allusion, medium confidence) · Heb 7:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Jas 2:23 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 22:2 (allusion, high confidence) · Exod 3:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Heb 11:25 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 104:1–2 (103:1-Ps LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 93:1 (92:1 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 45:2–4 (44:3-Ps LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 63:1 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 1:3–4 (quotation, high confidence) · Song 2:5 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 2:15–16 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:29 (quotation, high confidence) · Isa 53:5 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 8:32 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 5:20 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 12:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 139:17 (138:17 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 139:21–22 (138:21-Ps LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 119:113 (118:113 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 119:97 (118:97 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: In a closing discourse Theodoret argues that the ascetics' endurance, beyond what shepherds, farmers or sailors bear, can only be explained by love for God, and illustrates this love from Moses, the Bride of the Song, Paul, Peter, and the saints from Abel to the martyrs, before the text breaks off.
- The text breaks off mid-sentence at col. 1521 of PG 82: the next page is missing from the scan, so the end of the discourse is lost.
- The scan is damaged: Latin debris and footnotes (Scripture references) from Migne's page are removed by logged corrections; lost or garbled Greek words are marked '…' and not supplied.
- The physiology of digestion (food changed in the liver into blood, carried to the heart through the 'hollow vein' and distributed through the body) follows the medicine of Theodoret's day.
- Peter's request to be crucified head downward follows the tradition of the Acts of Peter (Mart. Pet. 37–38); Theodoret does not name his source.
- Scripture quoted includes Exod 33:13 (LXX wording); 2 Cor 11:2; Song 2:14; Rom 8:35–39; 2 Cor 5:21; 8:9; Gal 3:13; Phil 2:8; Rom 5:8; 2 Cor 5:14–15; 4:17–18; 12:10; John 21:15–17; Matt 26:34–35; Luke 22:31–32; 1 Cor 15:31; Gal 2:20; 1 Tim 1:17; 1 Cor 1:24, 30; Heb 7:3; Jas 2:23; Heb 11:25; Pss 104:1–2; 93:1; 45:2–4; Isa 63:1; Song 1:3–4; 2:5 (LXX); 2 Cor 2:15–16; John 1:29; Isa 53:5; Rom 8:32; 2 Cor 5:20–21; Gen 12:3; Pss 139:17, 21–22; 119:113, 97. The psalms are cited by the Septuagint wording.
- 'To love the same things and to hate the same things' is a proverbial definition of friendship from Greek and Roman moral writing (source not named).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Latin debris and a marginal letter from Migne's page; Latin debris and a marginal letter from Migne's page, read as Greek letters by the OCR; Latin debris and footnote references from Migne's page, read as Greek letters by the OCR; Latin debris from Migne's parallel column; Latin debris from Migne's parallel column, read as Greek letters by the OCR; Migne's marginal letter A; Migne's marginal letter inside a hyphenated word; Migne's marginal letter inside a hyphenated word; OCR ending; column number from Migne's page; column number, footnote and Latin debris from Migne's page, read as Greek letters by the OCR; footnote (Scripture references), Latin debris and a marginal letter from Migne's page, read as Greek letters by the OCR; footnote and Latin debris from Migne's page, read as Greek letters by the OCR; footnote marker inside a hyphenated word; footnote reference from Migne's page): αὶ 1496} → ; οἷ Δη Ροίυονῖ, σοὺ θ6π6 δἰ ταὶ δ {88 ἴῃ βοορυηι μία ἀκα [15, ἷδ (181]ἢ 715 οἱ δὰ (ἢ οἱ [ϊδοι εἱ {γἰ αἱ] αι οπὶ ἰδεί πὶ ἱπστγο δῖα 8,, βίδιϊ πὰ ἀρρ!!ςαι θα οΟγΓροτὶ 5 δ γαί τῆι εἰν ὸ ἃς. πυϊγ μα ηῖο πηϑς 18, ἰμγεν ϑιθηάιπι αἷς Δημὶ οἱ Γαι οὶ νεϑουἴμ δ δἰ μη ὁ πὶ τοῦς λα γ, οἴ πὶ οἱ γλ ]ο χροΐ, βοά ἃ)» ϑ)4υΐβ γοπηοἀΐαπι [τὶ (ΟΥ̓ΡΟΙῚ ἃ Α → ; Α π)Δ0) ἐιν → ; ς Δ] 19. δο 9 (ὁπ) πος 115 νοοῖ ἀϊπσηούι Δ θογαμν μι δα ἰσαιδηίαι δι ἰδ ηῖ, [φίλον τα πη δι ἰπο 508. εἰ βιυίτγὶῖ,.δἱ ἰγεῖφαι,, οἱ νϑϑιϊῖ, οἱ 8125 ργωῦεὶ, δα οἱ δῖα → ; Ο παπὶ {Πἰλπν οἱ {Πα Δ ηΓ ] → ; εἰ 1301 Ταὶς πα διά ν᾽ βϑὰ οἱ νβἰνεῃιδι δ δία να δὲ « ἔσεα ἔμ ἀΐοἰβ πα δ : ᾿νε! εἱ Εἰ πὶ ἃ. ν Ἐκ νοσοπΊ Δι ἶγ ἀδδί διαὶ : εἱ ὁχ ἰΐ5 απ ἀς εἰς θεῖ α → ; ᾽η τὰ ἀδοογα. ν ἢ υὐὰ5. οἰΐδηι ρυ ον εἶδ, θαυ πὶ ν Το πη 6 η]πὸ οἱ οὐ 4406 πολ δία. ε (6 ῃ → ; [Βοἱ. Υ, 13. → ; δυνήσεται Α ἡμᾶς → δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς; ποίη, οἱ δηρσυδίίαπ), εἰ ῬΕγβδουζ[οπ6πι, οἱ ἃ]δ᾽ ον, πο δι 05] 8ίδι 14 φυκτῖι, οἱ δἷϊ, ποθ υἱ εἱ τὶ οἱ απ δια ποεἰ ογαπιιγ λι8ι{|4 θ οἱ ἴῃ ᾿ρ50}. » --- « Οἱ ουπὶ ἀΐἀδ → ; Ὦ Εἰ : ε« Πυιη ἢ ΠἸανῖς δοπιθιϊρδαπι → ; οὶ Κι » Εἰ: « (απ δός ἴῃ Ποῖ δάϊνίβοί πο] πὶ : ποαὺθ β6ἰιθηης δι οἶμαι τοῖαιν μοὴ δηνρίϊιι5 δἰ υἱ υἱνυθί, 5ο οἱ αυἱ ργὸ "ρ5}8 πιοῦ- ἃ → ; τας 681 οἱ γοϑυγγοχὶδ, οὐ ἃ ΡΓῸ (Ὁ 2ύΈΓ6 οἱ ραιὶ θυ] Διο ὃ αν ρΓΘρΠ 05 [υἱα γα, οὐτὰν Λε “: μαι μαἰνῖαιθ δι θεῖε οἱ Ἰον δι! (γι θιυ!δεϊοπὶς, εἰ αἱ δἱΐ οἱ ἀϊτι π} 0 }} 15, ἰθ ποοσρδορίδι θυ, πῃ ρογδοουοαΐ5., ἐμ ἢ. ϑὲοἷΐ, ροϑὶ δ οἱ ἴῃ. απ 8 εἱ "ἃν αἱἱπὶ αἰ φο θα ρατυθηῖ, → ; 7: τεπὶ Βα οδὶ, σοι διὶ ιν, 17. → ; Α δἰτνιν, εἰ διπίαια. → ; δα }}] - ᾿Ἰπ: ρου εἶ τί, φογα, οἱ αιιοά τηἱ δεσορίπην 66 065 απο εἴ την οἱ 08 ραβιογίβ οὔ παι! πεῖ ματὶ θαϊ, πᾶς ροῦν οι δὰ πὶ σοι Πἀδηι δῦ ἰδ γα- Βροπάογα. γαγυιη δου] 608 αὐ δ ην ραγαοθίο5 οἱ Δςο τς ποι υἱ → ; (, 56 «να γΙ (118 5085 ἀΐσεη}8 Πάθετα 86 οι παπὶ ἱρτὴ» → ; δι εὐποίογπιη ποι πὶ ἀρὰ ἃ ἰρϑυην δοϊυπὶ ὑπΐ να ῦβοοἱ 8εῖ8, οἵ (δϑιϊμνοηἑ πὶ ρυ: 65. [ἢ αἰ ΠΟσΕ0}}6 δι 6 ηὶ οο ἐς τὰ Ἰο 028 → ; ἢ εἱ πορλιυη8 αἱ] 6 → ; πονεῖ. ΟὟ ἰ( δεῖται Αγ} γον, εὐ πάη ἐχορῖς {εἰ ν}}ς νι υἱ τὸ αὐ πον ἀεἰεἴαι ἢ 65 ἰυἃ, οἱ ἰὰ ἀἰασαμάο ἐπί, αἰϊ, οδο ἰς Πυιείιυδιίδη) ἤθη ἀεδρεχί, ἰίὰ εἰ Υ ἵἴμις. χη, δι, 82. Ὁ. 8ογνδίιιβ. 65 δι χ} 10, δ᾽ 5 οὕς ᾿αῦδηοὶ αι 185 ρα τ. Ουΐη οἱ ᾽ν σαν ας Οὐ ἃ → ; αὺο ))ο- Β → ; δην σΟΓρΡογὶ5 Ομ Β65 οὐαὶ, αἰν 125, οἱ ρἰοτίδηι, οἱ υἢ δὲ] τ. θαυ η ἴῃ οἱ δά πα} ]δι Θά γυ ἢ] εἰ οἱ εᾶ- Ηἰ (85 ρα Γ οπι)ηἶδ, αἱ ν ἴση! τ Δεῖ, ν, 41. α[ (ον. χυ, 5]. νΟα]αῖ, τι, 90. → ; 1 δῖ. → ; Α επί. Υἱγέια ἀὐ!οπὶ οἱ ρἢ]Οφορ νᾶ → ; υἱ ρ ν᾽ ]οδοὺς Ὀεΐ νἱγίιι5, οἱ ἢοΐ βαρ επεῖδ. νυ Εἰ τυγϑυθ: « 681 πολ ὶβ βαρίϑι 8 ἃ 60, [πδι1{18, εἰ ΞΔ ποι} ἰῃ δὲὁ τεία!! {. → ; ἐχομί- ιν. σατο → ἐχομίσατο; 4 Τιη. ι. 11. ἀ (γι τ, 94. «ἰδἰά, 50. " ὕεη. νυ, 95, 34; ἔς! !, χεῖν, 16; Ηδῦτ. χι, 5. τ Ο6ῃ. νι, ν, ΥΗ1, (Σ οἷ χ. το, 5. ἢ τη. κίν, εἰ αν; εῦτ. χι; Οαΐαδι. νιν: Αοὶ,. ἥ ἱπ θυ, οἱ ἰδ οἱ ἢ ἤπνθ πὶ ἢ ἃ- Α → ; ἐκ πος 8} ἃ Ρϑδϑυ5 δϑί, οἱ ομαγι(δι18 Δι: })8π| πη ἰ πη 6 ΓΘ σι χὶϊ, 1}}} εἰ εἰ αὐ 8085 δεῖ, «ἱ ἰπ τη }10 ρ᾽ υτῶ, 88ἰῃ οἱ δα, εἰΐϑιι ἄπ θοῦ δες ἰην ἀϊα ἀο)ονὶὶ Σ, ἢδς φουνίιυ5 Γοϑι]}αἰς, ποο ἀριηΐης ]δηά 2 ὑϊβδοϊνογυηδ, πος πιΐ πῶ Ἵ ὥρη. κσι, σττὶ. ᾿Ἄ|6τ. χι. Ρ νη. χχι, 4230. η. τ ΄φη. μὲ οἱ ἵν. → ; φιλό- Ὁ θεὸν → φιλόθεον; παραγενό. Ὁ μενος → παραγενόμενος; 4 ἰρ. 4, δ. {158. κκὶ}ν, 4. δ (πη. 1, 9, ὅ ποθ, οἱ {θη το ροτδ 8 Ῥϑοοδιϊ μά θότα ἰυσυηή λίθοι) Υ. πα οἱ 'βηθ εἱ οἷα ἃ ποῦς τ σοι πᾶπι πὶ δίου! ρο οηι Σ, ν οἱ χὶὶ 56 5. φοπιπιογαθίίυν Ῥ. » Οὐ Ιἰο60 δἰ πλ 6 Γ΄ δαρί οί, οἱ ὁ, » Ἰς υ ἀΐης νοῦ δίοην, τηδηδαοίυϊποη, οἱ ἰι δι 81 9 » [86 οἱ «υΐ ει 1δι᾽ δ.» ῬΡῬᾺΙ κεν, 10. « ει). χιαν, ὅ. ὁ ὁδϑῖ, οἱ αυὸ ἰῃ εἰ θυ 5 "θη "Π}᾿ πὶ, [πἢοι]ρι}- Ηδο τὰ ΐ Ρ.» τ.» Ενί-. ἀϊ- Α → .
Extrabiblical texts: Acts Pet. 37 (Acts of Peter; allusion)
Topics: Christology
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Hist. rel. 31 (PG 82; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-religiosa/31). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-religiosa/31
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-theodoret-historia-religiosa-31) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from the Greek as printed in Migne PG 82 (archive.org OCR); no public-domain English exists, so every section was re-read against the Greek (Lives 1-11 in a separate review pass).