Sermons on the Beatitudes

^A high watchtower which is looked upon by means of hope.

Since, therefore, the Lord ascends the mountain, let us hear Isaiah crying out: “Come, let us ascend to the mountain of the Lord.” And even if we are weak from sin, let us strengthen, as the prophecy instructs, the drooping hands and the paralyzed knees. For if we reach the summit, we shall find Him who heals every sickness and every infirmity, He who takes up our weaknesses and bears our diseases. Therefore, let us also run to the ascent, so that with Isaiah, having arrived at the crest of hope, we may see from the lookout those good things which the Word shows to those who have followed Him to the height. And may God the Word open His mouth to us also, and teach us those things whose hearing is beatitude; and let the beginning of our contemplation be the beginning of the instruction of the things spoken.

On the Beatitudes

“Blessed,” He says, “are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” If someone greedy for gold were to come upon writings indicating a treasure hidden in some place—a place which, containing that treasure, showed forth much sweat and labor to those aspiring to such wealth—would he grow faint at the labors, and become sluggish in seeking the profit, and conclude that to undergo no toil out of such eagerness would be sweeter and more pleasant than the wealth itself? It is not so; it is not so. Rather, he would summon all his friends to this; and having gathered for himself from every side such aid as he could with a multitude of helpers, he would make that hidden wealth his own. This is that treasure, brothers, which the writing indicates, yet the riches are hidden by obscurity. Therefore, let us too, who are greedy for incorruptible gold, make use of the multitude of our prayers, as if they were hands, so that the riches may be revealed to us, and we may all divide the treasure equally, and each one acquire it in its entirety. For such is the division of virtue, that it is divided among all those who embrace and desire it, and yet the whole is present to each, undiminished among the participants. For in the distribution of earthly riches, he who draws more to himself than is just inflicts an injury on those who are partners through equal shares (for he who increases his own portion beyond what is just reduces the share of the partner); but spiritual riches do what the sun does, which imparts itself to all who see it, and yet is present in its entirety to each one. Since, therefore, equal gain is hoped for by each from the labor, let equal aid of prayer be brought by all to that which is sought by us. ^D First of all, then, I think it incumbent to consider what exactly blessedness is. Blessedness is, as my opinion holds, a certain collection of all those things which are understood by the name of “good,” from which nothing is absent of those things that pertain to the desire for good. It would become more recognizable to us also by the juxtaposition of its opposite; and the opposite of the blessedness...

is misery. ^A Misery, therefore, is wretchedness in bitter and sad events and calamities which do not happen by our own will. The state of those things which occur in these is, on either side, drawn and divided into the opposite. For it is permitted to him who is considered blessed to rejoice, to be pleased, and to exult in the things proposed to him for enjoyment; but to him who is deemed miserable, it happens that he is distressed and pained by the things present to him.

Furthermore, that which is to be held as truly blessed is the divine nature itself. For whatever we might suppose that to be, blessedness is that immortal and incorrupt life, an ineffable and likewise unperceived and unthinkable good, an indescribable and inexplicable beauty, self-originated, self-given, and grace, and wisdom, and power, the true light, the fountain of all goodness, the authority presiding over and super-imposed upon all things, the only lovable [being], always existing in the same way, the eternal exultation, the everlasting joy, concerning which, if anyone says all that he is able, he says nothing of those things which the dignity of the matter demands and requires. ^B For neither does the intellect, nor the agitation of the mind and spirit, reach and attain to that which is, and even if we are able to think and understand something more sublime and lofty concerning that good, nevertheless, by no reason or speech is that which is thought and understood uttered. Since, however, He who fashioned man made him according to the image of God, in the second place that which is called by this name through communication and participation in that which is truly blessedness would be judged as blessed. For just as in an excellent form of the body, the principal and primary beauty is in the living and truly subsistent face, while that which is shown for the sake of its imitation in an image and likeness holds the second place after it; so too human nature, which is the effigy and image of the supernal blessedness, is itself also designated by good beauty when it has shown within itself the signs and representations of the blessed characteristics. ^C But because the filth of sin has defiled and rendered useless the beauty of the image, He came who would wash us with His own water—living and leaping up into eternal life—so that, having put aside the deformity contracted from sin, we might be renewed into the blessed form. And just as in the art of painting, if one were not ignorant of that craft, he could say to the unskilled that this is a beautiful face which consists of such parts of the body—to which such hair, and orbs of the eyes, and descriptions of the eyebrows, and positions of the cheeks, and individually all things by which the excellence of the form is completed, are present—in the same way, He who, as if by painting, restores our soul to the imitation of that which alone is blessed, describes in speech the individual things which pertain to blessedness, and says in the first place, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." ^D

But what profit will accrue from that generosity, if the meaning contained in these words has not been made clear to us? For even in medicine, many precious drugs, difficult to procure and discover, remain fruitless and useless to those who are ignorant of them, until we have heard from the art for what object each of these is [intended]. What, then, is...

it to be poor in spirit, whereby one manages to possess the kingdom of heaven? We have learned from the Scriptures that there are two kinds of riches: one that is sought after and one that is condemned. For the wealth of the virtues is to be sought, while material and earthly wealth is denounced; because the former becomes the possession of the soul, while the latter is suited for the deception of the senses. For this reason, the Lord forbids us to store it up, since it lies exposed to the corruption of moths and the plots of nocturnal thieves. Instead, He commands us to apply our zeal to the wealth of sublime things, which no corrupting power can touch. By mentioning the moth and the thief, He indicated the destroyers of the soul's treasures. If, therefore, poverty is opposed to wealth, by that same analogy and logical consistency it is clearly possible to discern a twofold poverty: one which is to be rejected, and another which is judged blessed. Whoever is stripped and destitute of temperance, sobriety, and modesty, or is needy and a beggar lacking the precious treasures of justice, or of wisdom, or of prudence, or of any other of those valuable and hidden goods, is miserable and pitiable by the name of poverty due to the lack of precious things. But he who of his own accord is destitute and needy of all those things which are understood by way of vice and wickedness, and has nothing of the devil's treasures stored up in his own vaults, but is fervent in spirit, and through this stores up for himself the poverty of evils, he would be the one shown by the Word to be in that blessed poverty, the fruit of which is the kingdom of heaven.

^B But let us return again to the work of searching for the treasure, and let us not flag in the mining discourse as we uncover that which is hidden. "Blessed," He says, "are the poor in spirit." This has been said in a certain way in what went before, and now it will be said again, because the end of a life lived in virtue is to be likened to the Divine. But surely that which is devoid of passion and emotion, being incorrupt and immortal, escapes in every way the imitation of men. For it is not possible for a life subject to affections, perturbations, vices, and accidents to be thoroughly and in all respects assimilated to that nature which admits of no perturbations, nor accidents, nor any affections. If, therefore, the Divine alone is blessed, as the Apostle calls It, and if communion in blessedness comes to men by their being assimilated to God, but this imitation cannot be accomplished or effected, then human life cannot attain blessedness. ^C But there are some things proper to the Deity that are also set before men, so that, if they wish, they may attain them by imitation. What, then, are these? It seems to me that the Word calls "poverty of spirit" the voluntary humility and submissiveness of the mind. And the Apostle sets before us the poverty of God as an example of this when he says: "Who, though He was rich, for our sake became poor and needy, that we might become rich by His poverty." Since, then, all other things that are contemplated regarding the divine nature exceed the measure of human nature, ^D but humility is something natural and familiar to us who walk upon the earth, and who have our constitution from the earth and flow back into the earth—by imitating God in that which is natural and possible for us, you yourself take on the blessed form. And let no one think it an effortless task,

or that it is easy for one to become humble and lowly in spirit. On the contrary, of all things practiced and performed through virtue, there is nothing so laborious and difficult as this. Why? Because while the man who had received the good seeds was asleep, the head and chief part of the contrary seed—the weed of pride—was sown by the enemy of our life and took root. For just as he cast himself down to the earth, in the same way he dragged the wretched human race down with him to a common ruin; and there is no other evil of our nature such as this disease which is generated in us through pride. ^A Since, therefore, the passion of haughtiness is in a way innate to almost everyone who shares in human nature, the Lord begins His beatitudes from this point, casting out pride—as it were, a primordial evil—from our disposition, while counseling us to imitate Him who willingly became poor, who is truly blessed, so that in whatever we are able, as far as we are capable, by being made like Him through our voluntary choice of poverty, we might also draw to ourselves and acquire a share in that beatitude. For this thought, He says, should be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. What is more "poor" in God than the form of a servant? What is more humble in the King of all things than to come into communion with our poor nature? The King of kings and Lord of lords willingly puts on the form of servitude; the Judge ^B of all becomes subject to those in power; the Lord of creation is brought down into a cave; He who embraces the whole world finds no room in the inn, but is cast aside in the manger of brute animals; the Pure and Undefiled accepts the filth of human nature, and passing through the whole of our poverty, advances even to the experience of death. See the measure of voluntary poverty: Life tastes death; the Judge is brought to judgment; the Lord of the life of all things becomes subject to the decree of a judge; the King of every supramundane power does not shrink from the hands of executioners. To this, He says, let the measure of your humility look for an example.

It seems to me, perhaps, that it might be well to examine the irrationality of such a passion, so that the beatitude may become easily attainable for us, and the achievement of humility may come about with great ease and facility. For just as skilled physicians, having first removed the cause that produces the disease, more easily overcome the illness; so too we, ^C having stilled by reason the puffing up of those who are arrogant, may ^D make the path to humility—which leads to the blessed state—easy for ourselves.

^A Whence, then, could anyone better demonstrate the vanity of pride? By what other means, than by showing what our nature truly is? For if someone were to look at himself, and not at the things surrounding him, I do not see how he could possibly fall into such a vice. What, then, is a human being? Do you wish me to state the matter in more solemn and honorable terms? Yet the one who embellishes our nature and speaks of human nobility in more inflated and splendid language, says that our nature is generated from clay: and nobility and splendor have a kinship with pride hidden within them. But if you wish to bring forward the constant and readily accessible generation that is known to all, go away, I beg you, do not speak of this matter; be silent, do not open your mouth, do not uncover—as the Law says—the nakedness of your father and your mother; ^B do not make public through your words, nor divulge, those things which should be covered by oblivion and deep silence. And do you not blush, you earthen statue, soon to be dust, you who contain within yourself a tumor that will last but a short time like a bubble, to be filled with pride, to swell with arrogance, and to have your mind inflated by vain spirit and thought? Do you not look to both bounds of human life, whence it takes its beginning and into what it ends? But you are proud and boast of the name of youth, and you look to the flower of your age, and you glory, and you please yourself on account of your grace and beauty: because your hands are vigorous in movement beyond measure, because your feet are swift and quick to jump, because your hair is spread by the winds, because down marks your cheeks, because your garment is flourishing beyond measure with the dye of purple, because your silken cloths are variegated by wars, or hunts, or certain histories, and are distinguished and adorned, or perhaps you gaze upon the care applied to your shoes shining in black, and the trifles of buckles with their lines that delight you? ^C You gaze upon these things, but do you not look at yourself? I will show you, as if in a mirror, who you are and what sort you are.

Have you not seen in a public place destined for the burial of the dead, the mysteries of our nature? Have you not seen a heap of bones, cast carelessly one upon another? Skulls stripped of flesh, offering a terrible and deformed appearance with their hollowed-out eyes? Have you seen gaping mouths, and the rest of the limbs scattered and dispersed as chance would have it? If you have seen these things, you have beheld yourself in them. Where are the signs of the present flower? Where is the goodness of color in the cheeks? Where is the flower of the lips? ^D Where is the truculent and fierce beauty of the eyes, shining beneath the rampart and protection of the eyebrows? Where is the straight nose located in the middle of the beauty of the cheeks? Where is the hair let down to the neck? Where the curls around the temples? Where the hands, archers and hurlers? The feet that ride? Where is the purple? Where the fine linen? Where the cloak? Where the belt? The shoes? The horse? The course? The neighing? Everything through which your pride is now increased? Tell me, where are these things, those for which you are now puffed up and think high thoughts? What an unsubstantial dream! What phantoms of sleep such as these!

^A Such are my words to those who in their youth are thoughtless on account of the imperfection of their age. But what might one say concerning those who are already established, whose age has matured while their character remains unstable, and for whom the disease of pride is increasing? By name, this malady of the disposition is called "high-mindedness," and the magistracy and the power associated with it generally become the ground for this pride. For either they suffer this while in office, or they are preparing themselves for it, or the accounts concerning it often stir up the disease even when it has subsided. And what word is such that it could enter their ears, which are blocked by the voice of the criers? Who will persuade those who are so disposed that they differ in no way at all from those who parade on the stage? For upon them also a mask, fashioned by the art of the skilled, is placed, and a purple robe interwoven with gold is cast, and they are carried in a procession in a chariot, and yet no disease of pride enters into them from such things; but whatever they were in their disposition before the stage, even in the procession they preserve the same state of soul, and after this they are not distressed, having stepped down from the chariot and stripped off the costume. But those who parade through the course of office in the stage of life, neither considering what slightly preceded nor what slightly follows, are puffed up and swollen like bubbles by a puff of air. In the same manner, these also are swollen by the loudness of the crier's voice, and they fabricate for themselves the shape of a strange mask, changing the natural position of their face into one that is grim and ^B fearful, and a rasping tone is devised for them—a voice transformed into ferocity for the striking of fear into those who hear. They no longer remain within human limits, but force and intrude themselves into the divine power and authority. For they believe themselves to be lords of life and death, because they dispense the vote that saves one of those who is judged before them, while condemning another to death. And they do not even see this—who is truly the Lord of human life, He who limits both the beginning of being and the end. Yet this alone would be sufficient for the curbing of arrogance: to have seen many of the rulers, in the very stage of their rule, seized from their thrones and carried off to the graves, where lamentation has succeeded the voices of the criers. ^C How then is he lord of another’s life who is a stranger to his own? If this man, therefore, is poor in spirit, looking toward Him who for our sake became poor voluntarily, and observing the equality of our nature, let him not, by acting insolently against his own kin through that deceived tragedy concerning rule, disdain the kingdom of heaven, which he has exchanged for such fleeting humility—truly blessed is he who has done so. Do not cast away, brother,

^A the other kind of poverty, which is the mediator for heavenly riches. "Sell," He says, "all your possessions, and give to the poor, and come, follow me, and you will have treasure in heaven" 93. For such poverty does not seem to me to differ from that destitution which is judged blessed. "Behold, we have left all that we had and have followed you," says the disciple to the Lord; "what then shall we have?" And what is the answer? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Do you wish to understand who he is that is poor in spirit? He is the one who exchanges corporal wealth for the riches of the soul, who is needy for the sake of the spirit, who has shaken off and discarded earthly riches like some heavy burden, so that he may be lifted up and float on high through the air, as the Apostle 94 says, caught up in the clouds along with God, reaching for heavenly things. Gold is a heavy thing, and everything pursued for the sake of wealth is an onerous burden; but virtue is a light thing, seeking sublime heights. Indeed, these are opposed to one another: weight and lightness. Therefore, it is impossible for one who is pinned down by the weight of matter to be light. If, then, it behooves us to approach things above, let us be poor and destitute of those things that drag us downward, so that we may dwell among the things above. Moreover, the psalmody prescribes the manner: "He has dispersed, he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains for ever and ever" 95. ^C He who has shared his goods with the poor will place himself in the portion of Him who became poor for our sake. The Lord became poor; do not you, then, fear destitution. Yet He who became poor for our sake reigns over all creation. Therefore, if you become poor together with Him who was poor, you will also reign together with Him who reigns. For "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," of which may we also be found worthy through Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power, for ages of ages. Amen.

Oration II. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth

Those who climb toward higher things by means of a ladder, when they have stood upon the first rung, are lifted by it to a higher one, and in turn, the second leads the climber to the third, and this one to the next, and that one to the one following it. And thus, he who ascends, while always exerting himself from the place where he stands toward a higher rung, reaches the very summit of the ascent. To what do I look in beginning from here? It seems to me that the order of the beatitudes is arranged and constructed in the manner of rungs, making the path of the discourse an easy climb through their mutual succession. For he who has mentally ascended to the first rung of blessedness is received by the next through a certain necessary following of thoughts, even if the discourse may seem at first glance to recount new and wondrous things. For perhaps the listener will say that it is not possible that, just as in the arrangement of rungs, after the kingdom of heaven, the

apprehended; but if it were necessary for the Word to follow the nature of things, it would have been more consistent for the earth to have been placed before heaven, as if we were to ascend from here to there. But if we should somehow become winged by the Word, and stand above the back of the celestial arch, we shall find there the supercelestial earth, which is laid up for those who have lived a life of virtue, so that the order of the succession of the beatitudes does not appear to have gone astray by proposing to us in the promises first heaven and after that earth, at the hand of God. For whatever is apparent, as far as bodily sensation goes, is all kindred to itself. Even if that which is on high seems to be separated by a local interval, it is still below that intellectual essence ^B to which it is impossible for the mind to mount, without having first passed over, by means of the Word, those things which the senses attain. If, then, the superior region is named by the designation of "earth," do not marvel; for the Word descends to the lowliness of our hearing—the Word who for this very reason descended to us, because we were not able to be raised up to him. Therefore, he imparts divine mysteries through words and names familiar to us, employing those expressions which the custom of human life contains. For indeed, in the promise immediately preceding this, he called that ineffable beatitude in the heavens a "kingdom." Does he, by his word, signify anything of that sort ^C which the kingdom below contains? Such as crowns of a certain kind that flash with the radiance of stones, and blooming purple robes that cast a sweet radiance upon delicate eyes, and entrance halls and curtains and high thrones, and ranks of guards standing in order, and all other things which those who extol the greatness of power through such things add like tragic performances around such a scene of life? But since the name of "kingdom" is in this life something great and, so to speak, above all things that are considered great among men, for this reason he used this name for the declaration of superior blessings; for if there were anything else among men higher than a kingdom, he would have, by that name above all others, lifted up the soul of the listener on wings, as it were, and raised it toward the desire ^D of the ineffable beatitude. For it was not possible for those blessings to be revealed to humans by their own proper names, for they are above sensation and human knowledge. For "neither has eye seen," he says, "nor ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man" (1 Cor. II, 9). But so that the expected beatitude might not altogether escape our conjecture, we are told of those ineffable things according to the capacity of our lowly nature. Do not, therefore, let the homonymy of "earth" after the heavens draw your mind down again to the earth below; but if you have been raised up by the Word through the previous beatitudes and have attained hope for the heavenly, inquire carefully into that earth which is not an inheritance for all, unless there be some who through the meekness of life...

^A and lenity are judged worthy of that promise: which also that great David—who by the testimony of Scripture is shown to have been meek and long-suffering beyond all those who lived in his time—seems to me, by the suggestion of the Spirit, to have anticipated, and through faith to have already taken hold of what is hoped for, when he said: "I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living." For I do not say that the Prophet called this present earth of the living, which brings forth all mortal things and in turn dissolves into itself whatever has come from it, the land of the living; but he saw and understood the land of the living, which death has not invaded; in which the way of sinners has not been trodden; which has not received within itself any trace of wickedness; which he who "sows the tares" has not broken up with the plow of malice; the land which is free from thistles and thorns; in which is the water of rest, and the place of pasture, and the fountain that is divided into four rivers, and the vine which is cultivated by the God of all things, and whatever else we hear of through the enigmas of divine doctrine. ^B If, therefore, that sublime land has been understood by us, which is observed above the heavens, on which the city of the King is settled, concerning which "glorious things have been spoken," as the Prophet says, then we would no longer reasonably be confused as to the order of the succession of the beatitudes. For it would not be likely, I think, that this earth of blessing should be proposed as the hope of those who shall be "caught up," as the Apostle says, "in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so they shall always be with the Lord." What need, then, is there of the lower earth for those whose life is suspended in hopes? For we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

But let us see for what virtue the inheritance of that land is proposed as a reward. "Blessed," he says, "are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." What is meekness? And in what matter does the Word pronounce meekness blessed? For it does not seem to me that we ought to consider all things ^C as virtue equally, whatever is done with meekness, if only quietness and slowness are signified by this term. For neither among runners is the meek man better than the one who hastens, nor does the sluggish man in the art of boxing take the crown from his opponent; and even if we run for the prize of the "upward calling," Paul is the author of straining toward speed, while he says: "So run that you may attain"; since he himself always strove further through more vehement movement, forgetting the things that were behind, and, when boxing, he was agile and swift; for he watched the attack and onset of the one standing against him, and he was firm and cautious concerning his footing, and when he had armed hands, ^D he did not aim the weapon which he held in his hands at something vain and empty, but he touched the vital parts of the one wrestling against him, bearing blows against his very body. Do you wish to know Paul’s boxing? See the wounds of the one who was contending with him, see the bruises of the adversary, see the marks of the one who was defeated.

^A Indeed, you are not unaware of the adversary, surely he who struggles through the flesh, whom he beats black and blue through the art of boxing, tearing him with the nails of self-restraint, whose limbs he deadens with hunger and thirst, and cold and nakedness, upon whom he imposes the stigmata of the Lord, whom he defeats in the race by leaving him behind, so that his eyes might not be blinded by the dust of the adversary who outruns him.

If, therefore, Paul is keen and nimble in the contests, and David widens his steps as he attacks his enemies, and the Bridegroom in the Canticles is likened to a roe in regard to agility, leaping over mountains and skipping over hills (and many such things might be said, in which speed of movement is found to be preferable to gentleness), how then does the Word here bless gentleness under the guise of an achievement? For, he says, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth," ^B that earth, surely, which is fertile in good fruits, which blooms with the tree of life, which is irrigated by the springs of spiritual gifts, upon which the true vine flourishes, whose cultivator we hear is the Father of the Lord.

But the Word seems to philosophize about such a thing, that there is great ease toward wickedness, and that nature has a downward inclination toward the worse; just as heavy bodies remain completely motionless toward the things above, but if they should be shaken off from some high mountain peak onto a downward slope, they are carried toward what lies beneath with such a roar, their own weight accelerating the motion, that the speed is beyond description. Since, therefore, swiftness in these things is harmful, that which is understood from the opposite must surely be blessed. And this is gentleness, a slow and difficult-to-move habit regarding such impulses of nature. For just as fire, having by nature a constant motion toward the things above, is motionless in the opposite direction; in the same way, virtue, being also keen toward the higher and superior things, and never slacking in its speed, is shackled toward the contrary impulse. Since, therefore, in our nature the speed toward evil things abounds, the quietness in such things is rightly blessed. For the calmness in these things becomes a testimony of the movement toward what is above. ^C It would be better, however, to clarify the argument through the very examples that occur in life. The movement of each person's volition is twofold, proceeding according to the will wherever it might seem fit, hence toward temperance, thence toward incontinence. And what has been said in part concerning the form of virtue and vice, let this be understood regarding everything. For human character is surely split toward contrary impulses—either anger being divided against kindliness, or pride against moderation, or envy against goodwill, or malice against a loving and peaceful disposition. ^D Since, therefore, human life is material, and the passions are concerned with material things, and every passion has a swift and irresistible...

^A appetite and impulse toward the fulfillment of the will (for matter is heavy and tends downward), the Lord therefore deems blessed not those who live within themselves apart from passion and perturbation (for it is impossible in a material life for a life absolutely bereft of matter and passions to be lived), but he calls gentleness the limit of virtue in the life led in the flesh, and says that to be gentle and meek is sufficient for blessedness. For He does not prescribe absolute emptiness of passions and impassibility to human nature (for it is not the act of a just legislator to enjoin things which nature does not contain or admit; for that is just as if someone were to transplant aquatic creatures to an aerial life, or conversely, to lead those that live in the air down to the water: but it is fitting for the law to be suitable and accommodated to the proper and natural powers). Therefore, the ^B blessing exhorts us to be moderate and gentle, not to be entirely devoid of passions and completely empty of perturbations; for the latter exceeds nature, while the former is accomplished by virtue. If, therefore, the blessing set down immobility toward desire, the benediction would be useless and of no benefit to life. (For who, conjoined to flesh and blood, could attain that?) But now He says that not he who has desired through some chance occurrence is to be condemned, but he who of his own resolve brings and contracts the vice upon himself. For that such an appetite should sometimes spring up is often brought about by the weakness inherent in nature, even contrary to the intent of the soul; but not to be carried away transversely by the impetus of the passion like a torrent, but to stand usefully against such a disposition and affect, and to disperse and remove the perturbation by means of reason—this is the work of virtue.

Therefore, blessed are those who are not prone, precipitous, and inclined toward the troubled and vicious motions of the soul, but are ^C settled by reason; in whom reasoning, acting like a bridle, restraining the impulses, does not allow the soul to be carried away and borne off into immoderation, insolence, and perturbation. One might see this more clearly in the perturbation that occurs through anger, in how blessed a thing gentleness is. For after a word, or an action, or a somewhat annoying and unpleasant suspicion has stirred up this disease, and the blood about the heart has boiled over, and the soul has been incited to vengeance—just as the fables feign that the nature of men is transformed into the species of brute animals by some potion of drugs—so one may suddenly see a man become a boar, or a dog, or a panther, or some other such beast, through anger. The eyes are suffused with blood; the hair stands erect and bristles; the voice is harsh and irritated by words; the tongue is numbed by the passion and not serving the internal impulses; the lips are constricted, and neither ^D articulating words nor holding back in the mouth

^A a humored spirit generated from perturbation, but indecorously spitting out foam along with the voice; such hands, such feet; such is the entire disposition of the body; with every member disposed and similarly affected according to the impulse of the soul. If, therefore, that man is such, but he who keeps the beatitude before his eyes mitigates and softens the disease with reason, with a constant and sedate countenance, and with a low and placid voice, just as a physician healing by his art one behaving basely from frenzy—will you not, having compared the one with the other, say that the savage man is miserable and abominable, but that this gentle man is to be judged blessed, who has not imitated the vice of his neighbor, nor perverted the seemly habit of his mouth?

That the Word looks most of all to this passion is clear from the fact that, after humility, ^B He prescribed gentleness to us. For it seems that one thing is connected to the other, and that the state of humility is, as it were, a mother to the disposition of gentleness. For if you remove pride from the character, the passion of anger has no occasion to arise. For insult and dishonor are the causes of such an infirmity for those who become angry. But dishonor does not touch him who has disciplined himself with humility. For if anyone possesses a mind purified from human deception, and looks upon the insignificance of the nature in which he shares, and from what a beginning it has its constitution, and to what end the short and fleeting course of this life tends, ^C and at the filth conjoined with the flesh, and the poverty of our nature—that it is not sufficient of itself for its own preservation unless the abundance of irrational animals supplies what is lacking—and in addition to these, sorrows and griefs and calamities and the manifold forms of diseases to which human life is subject, of which no one by nature is free or immune; if someone were to look upon these things diligently with the pure eye of the soul, he would not easily be agitated and flare up at the lack of honors. On the contrary, he will consider the honor bestowed upon him by his neighbor to be a deception, since there is nothing in our nature that can have communion with honor—except only regarding the soul, the honor of which does not consist of those things sought after in this world. For to boast in wealth, ^D or to pride oneself on lineage, or to look toward glory, or to seem to be above one’s neighbor—the things by which human honors are filled—all these are a subversion and disgrace of the soul's honor, so that no person gifted with reason and consideration would endure to contaminate the purity of his soul with such things. To be thus affected and animated is nothing else than to be in a profound habit of humility, and when this is accomplished and realized, anger will have no access to the soul. Furthermore, when anger is removed, a quiet and peaceful life is lived; which is nothing else than gentleness, the end of which is beatitude and the inheritance of the heavenly land, in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory and power, for ever and ever. Amen.

ORATION III.

We have not yet reached the summit of the mountain, but are still lingering about the foothills of its meanings; although we have already passed by two hillocks, having been led up by the Beatitudes to blessed poverty and the gentleness that is above it—after which the Word leads us to higher things, and reveals to us a third height in succession through the Beatitudes, toward which we must by all means hasten, having laid aside every weight and the sin that clings so tenaciously, as the Apostle says, so that, becoming light and agile, we may reach the peak and draw near to the purer light of truth through the soul. What, then, is that which is said, *Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted*? ^B One who looks to the world will certainly laugh and, mocking the Word, will say: If those who are consumed by every calamity are accounted blessed in this life, then, by consequence, those whose life is free from grief and harm are certainly miserable. And so, enumerating the kinds of calamities, he will increase his laughter, setting before his eyes the evils of widowhood and the misery of orphanhood, losses, shipwrecks, captivities from wars, unjust sentences in court, exiles and the confiscation of property, disgraces and the marks of infamy, calamities resulting from diseases—such as blindness and mutilations—and every bodily affliction, and whatever other inconvenience occurs to men during this life ^C that touches either the body or the soul; he will run through all these in his speech, through which, as he thinks, he will show that the discourse which judges those who mourn to be blessed is ridiculous. But we, caring little for those who contemplate divine thoughts with a low and petty mind, shall endeavor, as far as possible, to look deeply into the riches that lie hidden within this saying, so that it may be manifest by this also how great is the difference between carnal and earthy thinking, and that which is sublime and heavenly.

At first glance, one might easily suppose that to be the blessed mourning which arises because of faults and sins, according to the teaching of Paul concerning sorrow, where he says that there is not one species of sorrow, ^D but that one is worldly, while the other is produced according to God. And that worldly sorrow is the worker of death, but the other produces salvation through repentance for those who mourn. For in truth, such a perturbation of the soul cannot but be judged blessed, when, having noticed that which is worse, it laments the vicious life. For just as in bodily diseases, in which some part of the body has become wasted through some violent injury, insensibility is evidence that the wasted and languid part is dead; but if by some medical art the vital sense is restored once more to the body, even...

^A both the patient and those who administer the treatment rejoice, using it as an absolute proof that the disease has turned toward health, in that the limb has begun to feel the things that cause pain. So it is when, as the Apostle says, some have cast off all feeling and surrendered themselves to a life of sin; for being truly dead and paralyzed in regards to a life of virtue, they have no sensation of what they do. But if the healing Word should take hold of them, as if through certain hot and searing medicines (I mean the gloomy threats of the coming judgment), and should prick the heart to its depths with the fear of those things expected—the fear of Gehenna, and the fire that is not quenched, and the undying worm, and the gnashing of teeth, and the incessant weeping, and the outer darkness, and all such things—treating and warming with these, as it were, hot and sharp medicines the one who was numbed by the passions of pleasure, He might bring him to a sense of the life in which he was living, and make him blessed by instilling painful sensation into his soul. ^B Just as Paul also, in the case of the man who had acted so licentiously in his father's bed, keeps striking him with his word as long as he was without sensation of his sin; but when the medicine of his rebuke had reached the man, as one already become blessed through mourning, he begins to comfort him, in order, as he says, that such a one may not be swallowed up by excessive grief. Let this meaning also be, for us, not useless toward the proposed contemplation of beatitude in relation to a life of virtue, because sin is in some way overflowing in the nature of human beings; and the mourning that arises from repentance is proved to be the remedy for this. But the Word seems to me to signify something deeper than what has been said, in the continuous activity of mourning, suggesting that something else is to be understood besides this. For if He were indicating only the repentance for sin, it would be more consistent for those who *had finished* mourning to be called blessed, not those who are *always* mourning; just as, by way of example, in comparing a life spent in disease, we count those who have been cured as blessed, not those who are forever being cured. For the prolongation of the treatment indicates at the same time the perpetuity and continuity of the infirmity. And also in another way it seems correct to me not to assume that the Word grants beatitude to those who are mourning on account of sin according to this understanding alone. ^C For we shall find many who have lived an unblamable life, and have been testified to by the very divine voice itself in the name of every virtue. For what greed was there in John? What idol worship in Elijah? What little or great sin does history know of in the life of those men? What then? Will the Word suggest that they are outside of beatitude—those who were neither sick from the beginning, nor ever had need of this medicine, I mean the mourning that comes from repentance? Or would it be absurd to think that such men are excluded from divine beatitude because they neither sinned, nor healed their sin with mourning? Or, in this way, would sinning be preferable to living without sin? ^D

if the grace of the Consoler is bestowed only upon those who repent and return to their senses? ^A For, "Blessed," He says, "are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Therefore, following as far as is possible him who brings us to high places, as Habakkuk says, let us again investigate the meaning contained in these words, that we may learn for what mourning the consolation of the Holy Spirit is proposed.

Let us see, therefore, in human life, first of all, what mourning itself actually is, and for what reasons it is felt and contracted. It is manifest to all, therefore, that mourning is a sad state and affection of the soul, arising because of the privation of something that is pleasing and acceptable; a mourning which has no place to exist in those who pass their lives in cheerfulness. For example, if someone enjoys prosperous fortune in life, and all his business ^B affairs proceed successfully for him through pleasant means: he finds delight in his wife; he is pleased by his children; he is fortified and secure through the protection of his brothers; he is endowed with authority and honored in the marketplace; beloved by princes; feared by adversaries; not despised by his subordinates; accessible to his friends; flourishing in riches and enjoying the same in luxuries and pleasures; agreeable and pleasant, oppressed by no troubles, with a robust body; having attained everything that in this world is considered to be of value—such a person surely rejoices in the cheerfulness of everything present to him. But if some change in this prosperity should occur, or a separation from those who are dearest, or a loss of property, or some impairment of bodily comfort brought about by some adverse and grave misfortune, then, through the removal of the pleasure, ^C the opposite state arises, which we call mourning. Therefore, the definition of it given a little earlier is true, namely, that mourning is an acute and painful sense of the privation of those things which men delight in. If, therefore, it is understood by us what human mourning is, let those things which are clear and manifest provide for us a certain path to those that are unknown, so that it may become clear to us what that blessed mourning is which is followed by consolation. For if the privation of goods which someone has possessed elicits mourning in this world, but no one will deplore the loss of a good that is unknown: it would not be inappropriate first to recognize what the good itself truly is, and then in this way to consider human nature. For through this, it will come about that we attain the blessed mourning ^D as it is with those who live in darkness, when one has been born in the gloom, while another, having been accustomed to the enjoyment of the outer light, has been shut away by some violence, the misfortune of what is present does not affect both in the same way (for the one who knows what he has been deprived of considers the loss of the light to be grave; but the one who has not even known such a joy at all will pass his life without pain, because, through his habituation to the gloom, he does not reckon that he has fallen from any good; and from this, the former is led by the desire for the enjoyment of the light to every device and contrivance to see again what he was deprived of by violence; but the latter will grow old living in the gloom, because he has not known the better, judging the present to be a good for himself)—thus also in the matter before us, he who has had the power to gaze upon the true good, then

thinking the poverty of human nature, ^A he will entirely have his soul in affliction, making a mourning of it because the present life is not in that Good. Therefore, it does not seem to me that the Word calls "blessed" the sorrow itself, but the knowledge of the Good, to which the passion of sorrow attaches itself because what is sought is not present in this life.

It follows, therefore, to investigate what that light might be, by which this dark cavern of human nature ^B is not illuminated in the present life. Or perhaps, does desire look toward that which is unattainable and incomprehensible? For what reasoning is there in us such as to track down the nature of the thing sought? What meaning from names and words is such as to produce in us a worthy notion of the light that is above? How shall I name the invisible? How shall I present the unseeable? How shall I point to the formless? How shall I encompass the unmeasurable, the unquantifiable, the non-qualitative, the shapeless; that which is found neither in place nor in time; that which is outside of every limit and every defining image? Whose work is life, and the substance of all things conceived of according to the Good; concerning which every high thought and name is considered: Deity, kingdom, power, eternity, incorruptibility, joy and exultation, and everything that is conceived and named in the heights? ^C How, then, and by what reasonings can such a Good of ours be placed before our eyes—that which is beheld yet not seen? That which provides to all things that exist, the fact of their existing, while it itself is always, and has no need of becoming to exist?

But so that the discourse may not labor in vain, extending itself toward things that cannot be grasped, let us cease from curiously and anxiously investigating the nature of the transcendent goods, since it is impossible for such a thing to come under comprehension; gaining from the things sought only so much as to form and imagine in our minds, through this very fact—that we are unable to perceive what we seek—some notion of the magnitude of the things being sought. The more we believe the Good to be higher by nature than our knowledge, ^D the more we should intensify and increase the mourning within us, because the Good is such and so great, and we are so separated from it, that we cannot even contain the knowledge of it. Nevertheless, we humans were once participants in this Good which surpasses every power of comprehension; and that Good which surpasses every thought and intellect was so much in our nature, that that other human good seemed to be, by the most precise assimilation, fashioned according to the image of the prototype and original. For those things which we now contemplate speculatively regarding Him, all these things once belonged to man: both incorruptibility and blessedness, and autonomy and freedom from slavery, and freedom from grief and...

from disease, and a life more august, and a sojourning in divine places, and the power also to behold the Good with a mind open and pure, with every veil removed. For the book of the creation of the world hints at all these things for us in a few words, saying that man was fashioned after the image of God, and lived in paradise, and enjoyed the fruits grown there. Moreover, the fruit of those plants ^A is life, and knowledge, and things of that sort. If, therefore, these things were in us, how is it possible, through comparing and considering in opposition to each other the blessedness of that time and the misery of the present, not to groan at the disaster? That which was high has been humbled; that which was made after the image of the Heavenly One has been made earthy; that which was designed to rule has been enslaved; that which was created for immortality has been corrupted by death; that which lived in the luxury of paradise has been transplanted to this sickly and laborious land; that which was accustomed to impassibility has exchanged it for a life of passion and decay; that which was subject to no master and was autonomous is now ruled by such and so many evils, that it is not even easy to number our tyrants. For each of the passions within us, when it prevails, becomes master of the one who has been enslaved. And just as a tyrant, having seized the acropolis of the soul, vexes and afflicts those who obey through the subjects themselves, abusing our own thoughts as servants for whatever he pleases: so anger, so fear, so timidity, so boldness, the passion of grief and of pleasure, hatred, contentiousness, unmercifulness, cruelty, inhumanity, envy, sycophancy, bitterness of memory and apathy, and all the passions ^B conceived in us as the opposite, are an enumeration of certain tyrants and masters, who enslave the soul as if it were a captive of war for their own power. And if one were to consider also the calamities of the body, which are intertwined and knotted with our nature—I mean the varied and manifold types of diseases, of which the human race was originally free and immune—one would pour forth much more abundant tears, while considering in turn, instead of the blessings, these sorrowful and bitter things, and weighing the disadvantages against the advantages. Therefore, he who proclaims blessing on mourning seems to teach this secretly and hiddenly: that the soul should look toward the true Good, and not be submerged by the current deception of this life. For it is not possible that one should live without tears if one carefully observes the things ^C that are, nor that one should think that he is in a life free of trouble, and in a more divine way of existence, if one has examined the facts with precision; nor, on the other hand, is it possible for one who is steeped in the pleasures of this life to think that he is in the midst of sorrowful things. This can be seen in the case of irrational animals. For while their nature’s constitution is pitiable (for what is more pitiable than the deprivation of reason?), yet there is no sense of the disaster for them, but their life is passed according to a certain pleasure. And the horse exults, and the bull paws the ground, and the boar bristles its mane, and the puppies play, and the calves frisk, and it is possible to see each of the animals indicating its pleasure through certain signs; and if there were any understanding of the grace of reason in them, they would not be spending their deaf and wretched life in pleasure. Thus also in the case of human beings, to whom there is no knowledge ^D of the blessings,

^A of which our nature has been deprived, they spend the journey of their present life in pleasure. Foolishness, evil counsel.

It follows, however, that those who take pleasure in present things do not seek after better things. But he who does not seek will not find what is granted only to those who seek. For this reason, therefore, the Word declares mourning to be blessed—not judging it to be blessed for its own sake, but because of what comes from it. ^B The sequence of the discourse shows that, by the name of the relationship to consolation, mourning is a blessed thing for human beings. For "Blessed," he says, "are they that mourn," and he did not stop the discourse at this point, but added, "because they shall be comforted." This, it seems to me, the great Moses—or rather, the Word who was ordaining these things in him—foresaw, when, in the mystical instructions of the Pascha, he decreed that, while bread without leaven should be eaten by them during the festive days, they should use bitter herbs as a side dish for their meal, so that through such riddles ^C and masks we might learn that it is impossible to partake of that mystical feast in any other way, unless the bitter herbs of this life be voluntarily mixed with the simple and unleavened life. For this reason, also, the great David, although he saw around him the highest summit of human happiness (I mean kingship), nonetheless adds a generous portion of bitter herbs to his own life, sighing in lamentation and mourning the prolongation of his sojourn in the flesh, and failing from his desire for greater things, he says, "Woe is me, that my sojourn is prolonged!" [Ps. CXIX, 5] In another place, ^D gazing fixedly at the beauty of the divine tabernacles, he says that he faints with desire, judging it to be more desirable for him to be placed in the lowest position there than to hold the first place among present things.

But if anyone wishes to understand the power of this blessed mourning more accurately, let him consider it for himself in the story concerning Lazarus and the rich man, in which such a doctrine is more clearly clarified for us. "Remember," says Abraham to the rich man, "that you received your good things in your life; and likewise Lazarus his evil things; for this reason this one is comforted, but you are tormented." [Luke XVI, 25] For it seems that, since lack of counsel—or rather, evil counsel—estranged us from God’s good providence concerning man (for when God ordained that good, unmixed with evil, should be our enjoyment, and forbade the mixing of the experience of evil with the good, we, because of gluttony, voluntarily gorged ourselves on the opposite—I mean, having tasted the disobedience of the divine Word), for this reason it must be necessary for human nature to exist in both, and to partake in part

of both the sorrowful and the joyful. Since there are two ages, and a double life is considered for each age in particular, and likewise a double joy—the one in this present life, the other in that which is set before us by hope—it would be considered blessed if someone should lay up his portion of joy in the eternal age through true goods, and fulfill the function of sorrow in this short and temporary life. He does not consider it a loss or detriment if he is deprived of some of those things which are sweet and pleasant in this life, but rather if, while he is enjoying and possessing them, he suffers the loss of better and more excellent goods. Therefore, if it is to be judged blessed to enjoy, throughout infinite ages, a joy that is never-ending but lasts forever, it is absolutely necessary that human nature also taste the opposites. ^B It is no longer difficult to perceive and understand the meaning of the discourse, as to why those who mourn now are blessed, for they shall be comforted for infinite ages. And the comfort comes from the participation of the Paraclete. For the grace of comfort is the peculiar work of the Spirit; of which may we also be found worthy, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

ORATION IV

*Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be sated* [Matt. 5:6].

Those who are skilled in medicine say that those who suffer in the stomach and are averse to food, when certain evil juices and superfluous humors have flowed into the upper part of the stomach, always appear to themselves to be full and sated; and for this reason, they are alienated from wholesome food, as their natural appetite has withered away due to this spurious repletion. ^C But if any care is applied to them by the medical art, through the drinking of sharp and penetrating medicines, having washed away and purged the evil and superfluous humors which were intercepted and confined in the cavities of the stomach, it so happens that when that which is foreign no longer obstructs and burdens nature, their appetite for helpful and nourishing food returns; and this is the sign of restored health, that they no longer take their food under compulsion and against their will, but with desire and eagerness. What then does this introduction mean for me? Since the discourse, progressing in order, leads us as if by the hand to the higher steps of the ladder of beatitudes, and, according to the voice of the Prophet, sets up clear steps in our heart, ^D and after the previously accomplished ascents shows us this fourth other ascent, saying: *Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be sated*; I think it right and proper, having purged the soul—as far as is possible—of that loathsome fullness, to produce in ourselves the blessed appetite for such food and drink.

For it is not possible for a human being to have strength unless supported by sufficient food, nor, without eating, to be filled with food, nor to be nourished without appetite. Since, therefore, strength is a certain good in this life, and this is maintained by sufficient satiety, and satiety comes through eating, while eating comes from appetite, appetite would be a blessed thing for those who live, as it is the beginning and cause of the strength within us. ^A Just as we relate to this sensible food—where not everyone desires the same things, but desire is often divided according to the types of food, and one person takes pleasure in sweet things, another has an impulse towards pungent and warming things, another delights in salty things, and another in astringent—so it often happens that the impulse for eating does not arise in each person according to what is beneficial. For according to some particular quality of temperament, a person may be prone to a certain malady and, by the quality of the food taken against one another, nourishes the disease; but if that person were to desire what is beneficial for his constitution, he would live in health, with the food maintaining his well-being. So it is also with the soul’s food: the desires of all do not lean toward the same thing. ^B For some yearn for glory, or riches, or some worldly splendor; for others, the appetite is occupied with the table; others eagerly take up envy as if it were some poisonous food. But there are some in whom what is good by nature becomes an object of desire. That which is good by nature is always and for all such that it is not chosen for the sake of anything else, but is desirable for its own sake, always remains the same, and is never blunted by satiety. For this reason, the Word calls blessed not those who simply hunger, but those whose desire and inclination is for true justice. ^C What, then, is justice? I think this must first be uncovered through discourse so that, once its beauty is revealed, the appetite within us might be moved toward the charm of what has been made manifest. For it is not possible to be desirous toward that which does not appear; rather, our nature is somehow sluggish and motionless toward the unknown, unless it receives some notion of what is to be sought through hearing or sight. There are some of those who have investigated such matters who say, therefore, that justice is a habit of distributing what is equal and what is according to the worth of each individual. For example, if someone becomes a master of distributing money, the one who looks toward equality and matches the distribution to the need of the participants is called just. And if someone, having received the authority to judge, does not pass his vote out of favor for someone or out of hatred, ^D but follows the nature of the facts—punishing those who are worthy, casting a saving vote for those who are blameless, and making a true judgment regarding other disputes—this man is also called just. And the one who assigns taxes to his subjects, when he imposes a tax proportionate to their ability, and a master of his own household, and of a city

and a king of nations; if each of these presides over his subjects conveniently and suitably, and is not moved by any impulse or appetite lacking in reason on account of the occasion of his power, but judges justly for his subjects, and adapts and tempers his own mind and counsel to the will and interests of his subjects: all these things are attributed and assigned to the reason and definition of justice by those who define in such a way what is just. ^A I, however, looking toward the height of the divine constitution, believe that something more than what has just been said should be understood by this justice. For if the saving word is indeed common and pertains to all human nature, but it belongs to no man to be occupied in the duties and offices just mentioned (for it belongs to few to reign, to preside, to command, to judge, or to have the power of administering money or the dispensation of any other thing; but the multitude and the common people are in the number of subjects and those who are ruled), how can one admit and agree that that is true justice, the condition of which is not equal and parity proposed to every nature? ^B For if the just man, as the teachings of external wise men hand down, has equality proposed to himself, to which he might especially look; yet excellence and dignity contain inequality within themselves: the reason and definition of justice given cannot be considered true, since it is immediately refuted by the inequality of common life. What, then, is that justice which extends to all? whose appetite is proposed as common to everyone looking at the evangelical table; whether one be rich, or poor, or a slave, or a master, or a patrician, or bought for money, with no fortune, no status, no condition, no circumstance either increasing or diminishing the definition of justice. ^C For if it be found in him alone who precedes others in some power and dignity: how shall that Lazarus who was cast down at the vestibule of the rich man be just, who had no material for such justice, no command, no power, no house, no table, no other apparatus for life, through which one might bring that justice to work and effect and represent it? For if to be just consists in commanding, or distributing, or in generally administering anything, he who is not occupied in those duties is altogether void of justice. How then is he held worthy of rest, who had none of those things by which justice is designated according to the opinion of the masses? ^D Wherefore, we must seek that justice, of which the Word promises that he who has sought it shall be possessor: for "Blessed," He says, "are they who hunger for justice: for they shall be satisfied."

Many and various things being set before us for our use, by which nature is affected and which it desires, we have need of much knowledge, so that we may discern among such edibles what nourishes and what harms, lest that which seems to be assumed by the soul in place of nourishment should work death and pestilence for us instead of life. And perhaps it would not be untimely nor alien to distinguish and explain the meaning of this saying through another of the questions according to the Gospel. He who in all things shared with us without sin—

^B did not judge hunger to be a sin, nor did He push away from His own experience the passion that pertains to it, but He accepted the appetitive impulse of nature which occurs regarding food. For having remained without food for forty days, He later became hungry; for He gave to nature, when He wished, the opportunity to perform its own functions. But the inventor of temptations, when he perceived that the passion of hunger had also seized Him, counseled Him to satisfy the appetite with stones; for this is what it means to pervert and twist the desire from food according to nature to those things that are outside of nature. "Say," he says, "that these stones may become bread." ^C For what wrong has agriculture done? For what reason are seeds rejected, so that food prepared from them is disdained? And why is the wisdom of the Creator condemned, as not properly nourishing the human race through seeds? For if the stone now appears more suitable for food, then the wisdom of God has strayed from the necessary providence regarding human life. "Say that these stones may become bread." He says these things even now to those who are tempted by their own appetite, and by speaking he for the most part compels those who look to him to form bread out of stones. For when appetite exceeds the necessary limits of need, what else is it but the counsel of the devil, who at that time was slandering and rejecting the food prepared from seeds, and inciting appetite toward that which is alien to nature? Those who set before themselves the bread of greed ^D eat of stones; those who prepare for themselves sumptuously and redundantly, and opulently constructed and heaped-up tables from ill-gotten goods; whose preparation of banquets is a sort of display contrived for astonishment, which falls outside the necessities of life. For what does the uneatable matter of silver—placed before one in a heavy and burdensome weight—have in common with the necessary use of nature? What is the passion of hunger? Is it not the desire for that which we cannot lack? For when strength has been exhausted by breath and evaporation, that which is lacking is filled up again by the suitable addition. For it is bread, or something else of those things that are edible, which the nature craves. If, therefore, someone were to bring gold instead of bread to his mouth, would he heal the need? When, therefore, one seeks out uneatable materials before things that are edible, he is engaged in stones, inasmuch as while nature seeks one thing, he is occupied with another. Nature speaks, through the passion of hunger, almost emitting a voice, that it is now in need of food, because it is necessary that the nourishment which has flowed away—and has vanished through vapors and exhalations—be introduced to the body again; but you are not obedient to the word of nature. For you do not give what it seeks, but you care that a great weight of silver might be on your table, and you seek out the metal-workers of the material, and you concern yourself with the history of the images engraved upon the materials, so that with precision the passions and the characters might be brought in through the art; so as to recognize the anger of the soldier when the sword is raised for slaughter, and the pain of the wounded man when, having been drawn together for the vital blow, he appears through the figure to be groaning; and the impulse of the hunter, and the wildness of the beast, and all that

^A other things which vain men, through such curiosity, laboriously contrive in matters destined for the use of the table. Nature seeks to drink; but you prepare precious tripods, basins, kraters, amphorae, and ten thousand other things that have nothing in common with the necessary need. Do you not clearly hear, through the things that you do, the one who advises you to look to the stone? And what point is there in detailing the rest of the shameful spectacles of this stony diet? The vicious and absurd theatrical performances, through which they pave the way for themselves to evil consequences, seasoning their food with the incitements of licentiousness? ^B This is the counsel of the adversary concerning food; these are the things he suggests and proposes, by bidding one look to stones instead of the customary and ordinary use of bread. But the Destroyer and Vanquisher of temptations does not exile hunger from nature as the cause of evils; rather, having turned away only the curiosity which enters alongside the need due to the counsel of the adversary, He permitted nature to be governed within its own limits. For just as those who strain wine do not despise the useful part of it on account of the dross mixed in with it, but, having separated the superfluous with a sieve, they do not reject the use of the pure; so the Word, being insightful and discerning of things alien to nature, by the subtlety of exact contemplation did not exile hunger, as it is preservative of our life, but He strained and cast away the curiosities that were connected and entangled with the need, saying that He knew of a nourishing bread that is rendered suitable to nature by the word of God. If, therefore, Jesus hungered, it would be blessed to hunger, whenever that hunger is generated and represented in us in imitation of Him. If, then, we have recognized what it is that the Lord hungers for, we shall certainly know the power of the beatitude now set before us. What, then, is the food for which Jesus is not ashamed to express desire? ^C He says to the disciples after the conversation with the Samaritan woman: “My food is to do the will of My Father.” And the will of the Father is manifest, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Therefore, if He yearns for us to be saved, and our life becomes His food, we have learned what the use of such a habit and affection of the soul should be. What, then, is this? Let us hunger for our own salvation; let us thirst for the divine will, which is that we might be saved. How, then, it is possible for us to achieve such hunger, we have now learned from the beatitude. For whoever has desired the righteousness of God has found that which is truly to be sought after; the desire for which is not filled in the one way that the appetites are typically satisfied; for not only as food did He desire the participation in justice. For it would be incomplete ^D based on this disposition alone.

^A that the appetite should consist in this affection: but now He has made this good also drinkable, that He might indicate the heat and fervor of desire through the affection of thirst. For when we are, in a certain manner, dry and burning in the time of thirst, we receive drink with pleasure as a remedy for such a state. Since, therefore, the appetite is one in kind, both for meat and for drink, but the disposition toward each of these is different, in order that the Word might legislate for us the highest degree of desire for the good, He blesses those who experience these two things with regard to justice—both hunger and thirst—as if the object of desire were sufficiently capable of being adapted to each appetite in a way befitting it: and that for the one hungering it becomes solid nourishment, and to the one who has thirstily drawn it to himself, it exists as a drinkable grace.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.

of those things that are viewed as belonging to vice. But if the definition of justice is void of all those things which are viewed in a worse light, and is pure and whole, it has clearly embraced the entire good within itself; and good is whatever is viewed and understood through virtue. Therefore, all virtue is signified here by the name of justice, which the Word declares blessed for those who hunger and thirst for it, promising them satiety of the things ^A they desire.

For "Blessed," He says, "are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied." And what is said seems to contain a meaning of this sort: Nothing of those things which are pursued for the sake of pleasure in this life brings satisfaction to those who pursue them; but, as Wisdom says somewhere through riddles and wrappings of words, the occupation with pleasures is a "pierced jar," into which those who are eager for such things are always pouring ^B with great haste, and show themselves to be engaged in an unfillable and endless toil, always pouring something into the depths of desire, and casting in whatever makes for pleasure, yet not bringing desire to satiety. Who has perceived that the limit of avarice has been reached because that which greedily sought-after things has come to the greedy? Who, captured by an insane desire for honor, has reached the end of ambition by attaining the things he sought? Now, as for the one who has satisfied his pleasure with amusements or spectacles, or with ^C the frenzies and madnesses of the belly and whatever follows the belly: what has he discovered to be left over ^D as a result of that enjoyment for him? Does not every form of pleasure perceived through the body fly past as soon as it approaches, not remaining even for the briefest moment with those who have attained it? Therefore, we learn this sublime, certain, and stable teaching from the Lord, that the pursuit of virtue alone, which comes to be within us, is something stable and substantial. For whoever has achieved one of the sublime things—for instance, temperance, or moderation, or piety toward the Divine, or any other of the sublime and evangelical doctrines—does not have a fleeting and unstable joy for each of these achievements, but one that is firmly planted and enduring, and extending for the entire duration of life. Why? Because it is possible to perform these things at all times, and there is no moment in the entire duration of life that produces satiety of good action. For both temperance and purity, and steadfastness in every good, and the shunning of evil are always practiced, as long as one has the virtue set before him, and they have a joy that produces and lasts along with the action. But in those who burn with absurd desires, even if their soul is always looking toward licentiousness,

^A one is not always permitted to rejoice. For satiety halts even the immoderate craving for food, and the pleasure of one who drinks is extinguished along with their thirst. Other things, in the same manner, require both time and an interval, so that the appetite for what delights and pleases, once extinguished by pleasure and satiety, may be recalled again. But the possession of virtue, once it has firmly taken root in anyone, is not subject to the measure of time, nor is it terminated by satiety, but it always offers to those living in accordance with it a sense of their own goods that is pure, sincere, fresh, and vigorous. For this reason, to those who hunger for these things, God the Word promises fulfillment: a fulfillment, I say, that kindles appetite rather than dulling it. This, then, is what He teaches while discoursing from the high mountain of concepts, namely, that we should not apply our desire to any such thing for which there is no end proposed to those who seek it, in which study is vain and foolish—just as it is for those who run after the summit of their own shadow, whose course is carried on toward that which is unending and inexplicable, with that which is being pursued always slipping away quickly from the one running after it—but that we should turn our appetite toward those things in which, through study, a certain possession is acquired by the student. For he who has desired virtue acquires a possession proper to himself, seeing the good he has desired within himself. Blessed, therefore, is he who hungers for continence; for he shall be filled with purity. And this fulfillment, as it has been said, does not produce an aversion or disgust, but rather an intensification and vehemence of appetite, and both grow together in equal measure. For the acquisition of the thing affected follows both the endeavor and the affection for virtue; and the innate good brings a constant and perpetual joy into the soul simultaneously. For such is the nature of this good, that it does not merely soothe and delight the one enjoying it in the present, but provides joy in all parts of time. For the memory of a life rightly spent delights the one who has attained it; and the present life, as long as it is passed through virtue, and the expectation of recompense and reward—which I suppose to be nothing other than virtue itself, which is both the work of those performing right actions and exists as the prize for right actions—delight him.

^C But if it is necessary to touch upon a bold statement, perhaps the Lord seems to me to set Himself before the appetite of His hearers through the discourse on virtue and justice: He who has become for us wisdom from God, and justice, and sanctification, and redemption, and even the bread that descends from heaven, and living water—which David confesses in a certain psalm that he thirsts for, offering this blessed affection of the soul to God ^D with these words: *My soul has thirsted for the strong, the living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?* Which David seems to me, having been instructed beforehand by the power of the Spirit in these magnificent teachings of the Lord, to have also predicted for himself the fulfillment of such an appetite. For, he says, *I will appear in justice before Thy face, I shall be satisfied when Thy glory is shown to me.* This, therefore, according to my own way of thinking, is true virtue, the good that is not mixed with anything inferior, regarding which all the intellect of those who are in the pr-

^A process of understanding things that concern the higher life is apprehended—God the Word Himself, or the virtue that covers the heavens, as Habakkuk sets forth. And rightly are those who hunger for this justice of God called blessed. For in very truth, he who has tasted the Lord, as the psalm says, that is, he who has received God within himself, becomes full of that for which he thirsted and hungered, according to the promise of Him who said, "I and the Father will come, and we will make our abode with him" (John xiv, 23), the Holy Spirit, of course, having taken up residence beforehand.

To me, it seems that even the great Paul, having tasted those secret fruits of Paradise, was both full of what he had tasted and yet was always hungry. For he confesses that he was filled with what was desired, saying, "But Christ lives in me" (Gal. ii, 20); and as if hungry, he is always reaching out to what lies ahead, saying, "Not that I have already obtained or am already perfected; but I run so that I may lay hold" (Philipp. iii, 13). ^B For let it be granted to us, for the sake of example, to posit something that does not exist in the nature of things. Just as with sensible food, if none of the things taken for nourishment were excreted as waste, but the whole were taken up as an addition to bodily stature—with daily nourishment increasing the size by itself—the bodies would grow to a great height and be raised up; so too, that justice, and every virtue along with it, since, according to what is perceived by the mind, it is not excreted when eaten in the manner of food, it always makes those who participate in it higher, increasing its magnitude by its own continual addition. Therefore, if we have understood this blessed hunger, having vomited out all the superfluity of wickedness, let us hunger for the justice of God, so that we may also arrive at its fulfillment and satiety, through Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

ORATION V

^C *Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy* (Matth. v, 7).

Perhaps this is something like that which Jacob was taught by an enigma through a certain vision, when he saw a ladder reaching from the earth to the height of heaven and God standing upon it—of a kind, indeed, that the teaching of the beatitudes now performs for us, always lifting up and raising those who ascend through it toward the higher intellects. For there, I believe, the life joined to virtue was depicted and formed for the patriarch by the appearance of the ladder, so that he himself might learn, and transmit to those after him, that it is not possible to be raised to God in any other way, unless one always looks and gazes toward the things above, ^D and is held by a continuous desire for sublime things, so that one is not content with what one has already rightly done and attained, but considers it a loss if one does not reach forth to what lies above. And here, therefore, the height of the beatitudes, each succeeding the other, brings it about that they

who are wise approach the Wise One through wisdom, and they who are pure approach the Pure One through purity; and in this way we are also united to the Blessed One through the path of the beatitudes. For blessedness is indeed ^A properly God’s own; for which reason Jacob narrated that God was standing upon such a ladder. Therefore, participation in the beatitudes is nothing other than communion with the Deity, to which the Lord leads us through the things that are spoken.

It seems to me, then, that through the exposition of the beatitude presented in the following text, He makes him who hears and understands the word to be, in a certain manner, godlike. For, He says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." I know that in many places of the divine Scripture, holy men invoke the divine power by the name of "the merciful": thus David in the psalms; thus Jonah in his own prophecy; thus the great Moses in many places of the legislation names the divine. If, then, the appellation of "merciful" is fitting for God, to what else does the word exhort you, if not to become god, as if formed and marked with the distinctive characteristic of the Deity? For if God is named "merciful" by the divinely inspired Scripture, and that which is truly blessed is the Deity, then it would be manifest, as is understood ^B from what follows, that even if a man happens to be merciful, he is accounted worthy of the divine blessedness, having become that in which the divine is named. "The Lord is merciful and righteous, and our God has mercy" (Ps. cxvi, 5). How, then, is it not blessed for that man to be called and to become that by which God is named from His own action? But while the divine Apostle in his own writings counsels us to be zealous for the greater gifts (1 Cor. xii, 31 sqq.), our purpose is not how we might be persuaded to desire good things—for this is naturally inherent in human nature, to have a propensity toward the good—but how we might not err in our judgment of what is good. For it is in this ^C part especially that our life goes astray, in not being able to understand precisely what is "good" by nature, and what is merely suspected to be such through deception. For if wickedness were presented to life naked, and not colored with some appearance of goodness, the human race would not have defected to it. Therefore, we have need of understanding for the comprehension of the proposed saying, so that, being taught the true beauty of the meaning lying before us, we might be formed according to it. For just as the opinion concerning the divine is ^D naturally innate in all men, but in the ignorance of the truly existing God, the error arises concerning what is sought—for while to some the true Deity is adorable, contemplated as It is in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Spirit, others have wandered into absurd opinions, suspecting such a thing to be in the creature; and because of this, the short-lived turning aside from the truth has given an entrance to impiety—so also, regarding the proposed meaning, if we do not grasp the true sense, it is not in a small way...

that a loss regarding the truth would occur if we slipped. ^A What then is mercy, and in regard to what is it exercised? And how is he blessed who takes back what he gives? "Blessed," He says, "are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Now, the obvious meaning of the statement summons man to mutual charity, compassion, and condolence, because of the inequality and variety of the affairs of life; for not all who live have the same fortune, whether it pertains to dignity, or to the constitution and culture of the body, or to their remaining resources. For life is for the most part divided by contraries—servitude and lordship, wealth and poverty, glory and ignominy, infirmity and physical defect versus good health—and is segmented by all such things. Therefore, so that the part that lacks may arrive at the same comfort with that which has a surplus, and that which is wanting may be filled up by that which overflows, He prescribes mercy for men toward those who are humbler and inferior. For unless mercy softens the soul toward such an impulse, one could not otherwise be moved and impelled to relieve one's neighbor in his calamity; for mercy is understood to be the opposite of inhumanity. Just as, therefore, a wild, savage, and cruel man is inaccessible to those who approach him, so he who is compassionate and merciful is, as it were, tempered in his disposition toward the one in need, becoming one with that suffering person, as the distressed mind craves. And ^B mercy is, if one were to define it in a statement, a voluntary sadness arising from the misfortunes of others.

If we have not fully expressed its meaning, perhaps it could be explained more clearly and plainly in another way. Mercy is an affectionate disposition joined with love toward those who are tormenting themselves on account of certain sad and distressing things. For just as inhumanity and ferocity have their cause and origin from hatred, so mercy is, in a certain way, born from love, nor would it exist from any other source. And if anyone should examine in full the property of mercy, he will find it to be an intensification of the loving disposition, mingled with the affection of sadness. For while all people—both friends and enemies—desire to share in good things, yet to be willing to be participants in misfortunes and sad and bitter things is the property solely of those who are held together by love. And yet, of all the things that are cultivated and practiced throughout life, it is agreed that love is the most excellent. Now, the intensification and growth of love is mercy. Therefore, he is to be considered properly ^C blessed who has his soul occupied in such a disposition, as one who reaches the highest pinnacle of virtue. And let no one see this virtue only in material things; for thus such a success would not be within everyone’s reach, except for him who possesses wealth. But it seems to me more just to see such a thing in the power of the will. For he who has merely willed the good, but has been hindered from the actual act of goodness by an inability, is in no way diminished in the disposition of his soul compared to him who has demonstrated his intent through outward deeds. ^D

Now, as to what profit this brings to life, if one takes the meaning of the beatitude in this way, it would be superfluous to set forth at length, as it is manifest even to the most unlearned that what benefits life can be achieved by this counsel. For if, for the sake of argument, such a disposition of soul towards those in more humble circumstances were to grow in everyone, there would no longer be what is "superior" and "deficient." Life would no longer be divided by the opposition of these terms. Poverty would no longer grieve man, slavery would no longer humiliate, nor would degradation sting; for all things would be common to all. Equality and impartiality would dwell within the life of men, with he who possesses more voluntarily leveling himself down to the side of the one in need. If this were to come to pass, no subject for enmity would remain; envy would be idle, hatred dead, and resentment, falsehood, deceit, and war—all of which are the offspring of the desire to have more—would be banished outside our borders. ^B Once that condition of lack of sympathy were cast out, there would also be utterly cast out—as if by some evil root—the offshoots of wickedness. In the place of these base things, the list of good things would enter: peace, justice, and all the attendant consequences that are understood for the better. What, then, would be considered more blessed than to live in such a way that we no longer entrust the safety of our lives to bars and stones, but are secured in one another? For just as the cruel and beastly man makes those who experience his ferocity his adversaries and enemies, so on the contrary, we all become well-disposed to the one who shows mercy, for mercy naturally engenders love among those who participate in it.

Therefore, mercy, as the discourse has shown, is the mother of goodwill, the pledge of love, and the bond of every friendly disposition. And what could be imagined as more secure for life than this safety? Therefore, it is with reason that the Word declares the merciful blessed, seeing that so many good things are implied in this name. But that such counsel is beneficial to life, it belongs to everyone to know; yet to me, the thought seems to convey—through the expression of future time—something more through hidden mysteries than what is understood at first glance. For, he says, "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy," as if the reward of mercy is stored up for those who have been merciful in the time to come. Therefore, as we are able, having left behind this interpretation which is easy to grasp and found by the common sort at first glance, let us attempt to look—as much as our reason allows—into the interior of the veil. "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall find mercy." Indeed, there is something even higher than these doctrines to learn in this discourse: that He who made man in His own image placed the foundations and subsidies of all good things into the nature of His creation, so that nothing we possess... ^{C D}

^A of good things should be infused from without, but that it should be within our power to gain what we desire, as if drawing the good forth from the storehouse of our own nature. For through particular and individual instances we are taught concerning the whole: that there is no other way for anyone to obtain the things he desires unless he bestows the good upon himself. Wherefore the Lord says somewhere to His hearers: *The kingdom of God is within you* (Luke 17:21); and that *everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened* (Matt. 7:7-8). Thus the receiving of what is desired, the finding of what is sought, and the entering into what we long for, are things within our own power, depending upon our own will when we choose to act.

From this it is consequently proven at the same time, by understanding what is argued from the contrary, that the inclination and propensity toward evil arises from no necessity compelling us from without, but that evil subsists and enters into the nature of reality only as soon as we ourselves choose it. Outside of the determined will of the mind, evil is nowhere to be found in and of itself according to its own substance. From these things, that sovereign and self-determining authority ^B which the Lord of nature fashioned into the nature of men is clearly demonstrated, in that all things—whether good or evil—depend upon our free will. And it is proven that the divine judgment, following with an incorrupt and just sentence upon those things which have been committed and designated according to our own intention, allots to each person whatever he might have chanced to provide for himself. To those indeed who, as the Apostle says (Heb. 10:7), *by perseverance in good work seek glory and honor*, it allots eternal life; but to those who do not obey the truth, but obey injustice, it allots wrath and affliction and all such names as pertain to a bitter and sad retribution.

For just as accurate, proven, true, and certain mirrors show images of faces such as the faces themselves are—joyful images of those who are glad, and downcast ones of those who are sorrowful—and no one could blame the nature of the mirror if a foul and unpleasant image is represented because the original form has collapsed into sadness: so also the just judgment of God is assimilated to our own dispositions, ^C providing to us from its own treasury such things as have been committed by us. *Come*, He says, *you blessed; and: Go, you cursed* (Matt. 25:34, 41). Is there any external necessity in these matters, distributing a pleasant voice to those placed on the right, but a bitter one to those standing on the left? Certainly not. For did not the former obtain mercy on account of the things they had done, while the latter rendered the divine Power cruel and unyielding toward themselves because they had been unyielding and inhuman toward their fellow men? That rich man, wallowing in delights and luxury, had no mercy on the beggar abandoned and afflicted at his gate; for this reason, he cuts off mercy for himself, when he is in need of being shown mercy and finds no one to hear him. Not that a single drop could bring any loss to the great spring of paradise, but that ^D the drop of almsgiving has no communion with unyieldingness. For *what communion has light with darkness?* (2 Cor. 6:14). For whatever a man sows, He says, such shall he also reap; because *the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap life*

eternal. I think that the seed is the human will, and the harvest the compensation and retribution for that will. The ear of good things is prolific for those who have chosen such a seed for themselves; laborious is the harvest of thorns for those who have cast thorny seeds into their life. For it is absolutely necessary that ^A a person harvest what he has sown; it cannot be otherwise.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. What human discourse could fathom the depth of the thoughts contained in this saying? For the absolute and indefinite nature of the expression affords an opportunity to investigate something even beyond what has been said, in that it did not add who those are toward whom it is proper for mercy to be exercised, but said simply: "Blessed are the merciful." Perhaps the discourse is hinting to us by what has been said that the frame of mind of mercy should follow upon the blessed mourning; for there, too, he was considered blessed who spends this life in mourning, and here the discourse seems to me to indicate the same doctrine. For just as we are affected ^B by the calamities of others, when some of our friends and acquaintances have encountered certain unavoidable sorrows—or have been cast out of their ancestral homes, or have been saved naked from a shipwreck, or have fallen into the hands of pirates or robbers, or have become slaves instead of free, or captives instead of prosperous and blessed, or have received some other similar evil, having formerly been examined as to their life in a certain prosperity—so, since in these cases a certain painful fellow-feeling arises in our souls, perhaps it would be much more appropriate in our own case to establish such a frame of mind and disposition, on account of the change that has occurred in our life, which is beneath our dignity. ^C For when we consider what that splendid home of ours is from which we have fallen; how we have fallen into the hands of robbers; how we have been submerged in the depths of this life and stripped bare; what kind, and how many, masters we have taken upon ourselves instead of our freedom and autonomous conduct; how we have interrupted the blessedness of life with death and corruption: is it possible, if we should receive these thoughts, that our mercy should be occupied with the calamities of others, and that the soul should not be miserably affected regarding itself, considering what it had, and from what it has fallen? For what is more pitiable than this captivity? Instead of the luxury in paradise, we have inherited in this ^D life this sickly and laborious territory; instead of that impassibility, we have received the myriad plagues of the passions; instead of that high conduct and the life with the angels, we have been condemned to dwell with the beasts of the earth; having exchanged the angelic and impassible life for a beastly one, who could easily number the bitter tyrants of our life, those rabid and savage masters? A bitter master is anger; another such is envy; hatred, the passion of pride, is a certain rabid and

cruel tyrant. And as for the desire that mocks and insults those it has redeemed with money, it is a kind of wanton thought that enslaves and binds nature to absurd, vicious, and unclean services. But what bitterness is so great and so immense that the tyranny of avarice does not exceed and surpass it? It forces the soul that has been reduced to slavery to always fulfill its inexhaustible and insatiable desires. Having received them, it is never full, just like a certain multi-headed beast that transmits food with countless mouths to an insatiable belly. For it, there is no satiety in gaining; but that which is always received becomes the material and incentive for the desire to have more. Who, therefore, having considered and weighed this unhappy and miserable life, would not commiserate and, in a human manner, be moved toward such calamities and inconveniences? ^B We do not commiserate with ourselves, because we lack the sensation of our evils, just as happens to those seized by madness, whose insurmountable evil has further removed even the sensation of what they are suffering. If, therefore, anyone were to recognize himself, what he was formerly and what he is at present—for Solomon also says somewhere that those who know and examine themselves are wise—such a person will never cease to commiserate, and divine mercy will naturally follow such a disposition of the soul. Wherefore it says: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."

"They themselves, and no others"—for by this name it is made clear, just as if one were to say: "It is blessed to have care for the health of the body." For he who has care will himself live in health; thus the merciful man is to be considered blessed, because the fruit of mercy becomes the proper possession of the one who shows mercy, whether the words are understood according to the reasoning we have just discovered, or also according to that which was previously discussed and explained—I speak of him who shows the sympathy and compassion of his soul in the calamities of others. For both are equally good according to the same reasoning: both to commiserate with oneself according to the method just mentioned, and to suffer with the misfortunes and calamities of one's neighbors, because the justice of God's judgment demonstrates, in supreme authority, the will of a human being inclined toward those who are lower and weaker, ^C so that the human being is, in a way, his own judge, passing sentence upon himself in the judging of the cases of his subjects. Since, therefore, it is believed—and truly believed—that it will come to pass that all of human nature will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive through the body according to what he has done, whether he has done good or evil—perhaps I might even say something bold—if it is possible for us to grasp with our reason things that are hidden and escape our sight, it is possible to perceive even now the blessed remuneration of those who obtain mercy. For the benevolence that exists in the minds of men toward those who show mercy throughout this life—that benevolence, naturally, remains forever for those who have partaken of the grace. What, then, is likely at the time of the examination, if the benefactor is recognized by those who have been well treated, as to how he will dispose his soul at the grateful voices directed toward God, the Creator of all?

^A that great theater where he is proclaimed for his excellent deeds? For the presence of those who have been treated well, the voice of the Gospel teaches, is manifested in the judgment of the King towards the righteous and the sinners. For He uses a demonstrative word towards both, as if pointing out with His finger the subject: "Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren." For by saying "these," He indicates the presence of those who have been treated well.

Tell me now, you who prefer the inanimate matter of money to the future blessedness: what splendor of gold is like that? What brightness of precious stones? What adornment of garments is such as that good thing which hope suggests and proposes? When the King of creation reveals Himself to human nature, sitting magnificently upon a high throne; when the countless myriads of angels stand around Him; and indeed when that secret and unspeakable kingdom of heaven is made visible in the eyes of all, and on the contrary the terrible punishments are displayed; and in the midst of these, the whole of human nature—those who have existed from the first creation until the consummation of all things—stands suspended in fear and hope of the things to come, trembling often at the expectation of the outcome of what is awaited on either side; and even those who have lived with a good conscience feel suspicious about the future outcome of the event, when they see others dragged away by a wicked conscience into that gloomy darkness, as if by some executioner? ^B If such a person, amid the favorable and thankful voices of those who have been treated well, stands before the Judge, manifest and splendid through the assurance of his works, will he consider that blessedness to be equal to material wealth? Will he agree to receive, in exchange for those good things, all the mountains and plains and valleys and the sea transformed into gold for him?

But he who has diligently hidden away Mammon with seals and locks, and iron-bound gates, and secure storehouses, and has deemed it more important than any commandment that his wealth should lie heaped up in secret, if he is cast headlong into the dark fire, ^C with all those who have experienced his cruelty and inhumanity in this life accusing him and saying: "Remember that you received your good things in your lifetime"; you locked up mercy in the fortifications of wealth, and left compassion behind on the earth; you did not bring philanthropy with you into this life; you do not have what you did not have; you do not find what you did not store away; you do not gather what you did not scatter; you will not reap the harvest for which you did not cast the seeds; the harvest is worth the sowing for you; you sowed bitterness, reap the bundles; you honored pitilessness, have what you loved; you did not look with sympathy; you were not looked upon with pity. You overlooked the one in affliction, you will be overlooked ^D

les; you honored pitilessness, have what you loved; you did not look with sympathy; you will be overlooked when you perish; you fled from mercy, mercy will flee from you; you loathed and disdained the needy, he who became needy for your sake will disdain you. If these things and such as these are spoken, where is the gold? Where are the splendid vessels, the splendid furnishings? Where is the security applied to the treasuries by means of seals? Where are the dogs set for nocturnal watches, and the preparation of arms against those who plan attacks? Or the list of names inscribed in registers? What do these things amount to in the face of the weeping and gnashing of teeth? Who will illuminate the darkness? Who will extinguish the flame? Who will turn away the worm that never dies? Therefore, let us consider and understand, brethren, the voice of the Lord, teaching so much about future things in a few words; and let us become merciful, that for this reason we may become blessed, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

ORATION VI

^A Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

What is likely to happen to those who look down from some high mountain peak into a vast sea, this has happened to my mind regarding the exalted voice of the Lord, as if from some mountain summit, looking down into an inexplicable depth of meanings. For just as in many coastal places one may see a mountain ^B cut in two, as it were, at the part facing the sea, and sheared straight down from the summit to the depths, at the top of which a certain crag projects and hangs over the abyss; what, therefore, is likely to happen to one who looks down into the deep sea from such a high vantage point, the same now happens to my soul, which reels as if with vertigo, suspended upon this great voice of the Lord: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." ^C God is set forth as a spectacle to those who have purified their hearts. "No one has ever seen God," as the great John says; and Paul, of sublime mind, ratifies this thought, saying that "no human being has seen or can see" Him. This is that smooth and sheer rock, which affords no foothold for the intellect to rest upon, which Moses likewise pronounced inaccessible in his own decrees, so that our mind cannot approach it anywhere—whatever it may strive to grasp, or wherever it may attempt to lift itself—by means of that devastating statement: "For there is no one," he says, "who shall see the Lord and live." ^D Yet to see God is eternal life. But that it is impossible for this to happen, that God should be seen, the pillars of the faith—John and Paul and Moses—assert. Do you see the vertigo with which the mind is simultaneously drawn to the depth of those things being considered in this discourse? If God is life, he who does not see Him does not see life; that God cannot be seen is attested by the God-bearing prophets and apostles. In what, then, does the hope of men consist? But the Lord supports the hope that is falling.

As He did in the case of Peter, whom, when he was in danger of sinking, He again placed upon the solid and resistant water. If, therefore, the hand of the Word comes also to us, and finds us unsteady in the depth of contemplation, and places us upon a different understanding, we are safely beyond fear, having firmly grasped the Word who leads us by the hand. For, he says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they themselves shall see God. ^A The promise is indeed so great, that it surpasses the ultimate limit of blessedness. For what could one desire after such a good, having everything in the one whom he has seen? For to see, in the usage of Scripture, signifies the same as to have; just as that passage, *May you see the good things of Jerusalem*, means the same as *May you find*, as the word signifies; and *Let the ungodly be taken away, lest he see the glory of the Lord*, by "not seeing," the prophet signifies "not partaking." Therefore, he who has seen God has, through the seeing, obtained everything that is numbered among good things: life without end, eternal incorruptibility, immortal blessedness, the kingdom without end, unceasing joy, the true light, the spiritual and sweet voice, the inaccessible glory, the everlasting exultation; in a word, every good. ^B That which is set forth by hope in the promise of blessedness is such and so great; but since the mode of seeing has been previously shown to be accomplished by one’s becoming pure in heart, my mind is again seized with giddiness, fearing lest by any chance purity of heart is something impossible and exceeds our nature. For if God is seen through this, while Moses and Paul did not see—who defined that God can be seen neither by themselves nor by any other—then that which is now proposed by the Word for beatitude would seem to be something impossible to effect and represent. What profit, then, accrues to us from knowing how God is seen, if the power for the thing conceived is not present? For such a thing is like someone saying that it is blessed to be in heaven, because there those things are seen which are not seen in this life. For if there were some mechanism for the journey to heaven demonstrated by word, it would be useful for the hearers to learn that it is blessed to be there. But as long as the ascent is ^C not feasible, what benefit does the knowledge of celestial blessedness bring, besides only distressing and afflicting those who have learned of what things we are deprived, and what we lack because the ascent is impeded? Does the Lord, therefore, command things outside our nature, and does He transcend the measures of human strength by the grandeur of the commandment? It is not so. For He does not command those to whom He has not given wings to become birds, nor does He command those to whom He has assigned a terrestrial life to live under water. If, therefore, the law is in all other things suitable to the ability of those who receive it, and forces nothing beyond nature, then we shall certainly understand by consequence that that which is pointed out by the beatitude is not beyond the reach of hope. But also...

^A that John, and Paul, and Moses, and whoever else is like them, have not fallen away from this lofty beatitude which comes from seeing God; neither he who said, "There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the righteous Judge will award to me," nor he who reclined upon the breast of Jesus, nor he who heard from the divine voice, "I have known you above all." If, therefore, it is not doubted that those who have proclaimed the contemplation of God to be above our strength are blessed, and that beatitude consists in the sight of God, and that to see God comes to pass for one who is of pure heart; then surely the purity of heart, through which it is allowed to become blessed, is not one of those things which cannot be achieved. How, then, can it be said that those who, with Paul, declare the contemplation of God to be above our strength, speak the truth, and yet that the voice of the Lord—which promises that God will be seen through purity of heart—does not contradict them?

It seems to me not irrelevant, if we digress a little from these matters, to first set forth certain premises which we may take as firm and needing no proof, so that our speculation regarding the proposed subject may proceed conveniently. The divine nature, whatever it may be in itself according to its essence, surpasses every capacity and faculty of comprehension, being inaccessible and unapproachable to conjectural thoughts; nor has any power yet been found among men for the understanding of such incomprehensible things, nor has any avenue been conceived for grasping what is impossible to grasp. For this reason the great Apostle ^B calls his ways "unsearchable," signifying by these words that the path which leads to the knowledge of the divine nature is inaccessible to our reasoning, as if none of those who have finished the course of their life before us had left behind any trace or sign to the knowledge, by which sign a thing that surpasses all knowledge might be conceived and perceived. Yet, since He who surpasses every nature is by nature such as He is, the invisible and uncircumscribed One is, in another sense, both seen and apprehended. There are, however, many ways of such contemplation and knowledge. For it is possible, through the wisdom that appears in the universe, to behold ^C reflectively Him who made all things with wisdom. Just as, in human works, the craftsman of any proposed structure is seen in a certain way by the intellect—inasmuch as he has embedded his skill in the work—yet not the nature of the craftsman is seen, but only the technical knowledge which the craftsman left expressed in the work: in the same way, when we look upon the order that is in creation, we form an impression not of [God's] essence, but of the wisdom of Him who has wisely made all things. And if we consider the cause of our own life—that it was not out of necessity, but from a good volition that He came to create man—again, by this method also, we say that we are beholding God, ^D coming into the contemplation of His goodness, not of His essence; and so too with all other things that lead to that which is better and higher, the...

contemplation and knowledge of God, since every sublime thought and consideration brings God into our view. For power, and purity, and being always the same, and being unmixed with anything contrary—and all such things—imprint and form in our minds a vision and imagination of a certain divine and sublime notion. ^A Thus it is shown by what has been said how the Lord speaks the truth when He promises that God will be seen by those who have a pure heart, and that Paul does not lie when he declares in his writings that no one has seen God, nor can anyone see Him. For He who is by nature invisible becomes visible through His operations, being perceived in certain properties that are observed about Him, and He becomes visible and manifest through His effects and actions.

^B But the meaning of the beatitude does not look only to this, that we are able, from certain operations, to infer the nature of Him who operates; for it might perhaps happen even to the wise men of this age, through the harmonious arrangement of the world, to attain to the understanding and knowledge of the supernal wisdom and power. But the magnificence of the beatitude seems to me to suggest and offer advice to those who are able to receive and understand what is desired; and the thought that has occurred to me will be clarified by examples and comparisons. There is a certain good in human life, health of body; but it is a blessed thing not only to know the theory of health, but to live in health. For if anyone, while recounting the praises of health, were to choose food that generates bad humors and diseases, what would the praises of health profit him while he is being worn away by sicknesses? So, therefore, let us understand the discourse before us, that the Lord does not say it is blessed [merely] to know something about God, but to have God within oneself. ^C "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they themselves shall see God." For it does not seem to me that He proposes that God is to be looked upon as some spectacle set before him who has purged the eye of his soul; but perhaps the magnificence of the saying suggests to us what the discourse also explains more openly to others, where He said, "The kingdom of God is within you," so that we may be taught that he who has purged his own heart from every creature and vicious affection beholds the image of the divine nature in his own beauty. ^D And it seems to me that the Word contains such counsel in the few things He said: "O men, to whom there is some desire for the contemplation of that which is truly good, when you hear that the divine majesty is raised above the heavens, and that His glory is indescribable, and His beauty ineffable, and His nature incomprehensible, do not fall into despair of not being able to behold what is desired. For that which is capable of being grasped by you, of the

contemplation of God, exists within you. Thus, God, who fashioned you, immediately ingrained such a good in your nature. ^A For God imprinted upon your composition the images of the goods of His own nature, modeling them as if upon wax with the stamp of a carving. But wickedness, having poured over the God-like character, made the good hidden beneath filthy coverings useless to you. If, therefore, you were to cleanse away again through a diligent life the filth smeared over your heart, the God-like beauty will shine forth for you. As it is wont to happen with iron, when, having been rubbed by a whetstone, it is stripped of the rust—that which a moment before was black now glitters with certain rays and emits brightness toward the sun—so too does the inner man, whom the Lord calls the heart, when it has scrubbed off the rusty filth that bloomed upon its form by way of the evil mold, recover again its likeness to the Archetype, and it shall be good. For that which is like the good is altogether good. Therefore, he who sees himself sees in himself that which is desired; ^B and thus he who is pure in heart becomes blessed, because by looking toward his own purity, he beholds the Archetype in the image. For just as those who see the sun in a mirror, even if they do not gaze fixedly at the heaven itself, none the less see the sun in the mirror just as those who look at the very orb of the sun do—so, He says, you too, even if you lack the strength to contemplate and observe the unapproachable light, if you return to the grace of the image that was established in you from the beginning, you have within yourselves that which you seek. For purity, freedom from passions, and alienation from every evil is the Godhead. If, therefore, these are in you, God is altogether in you. When, therefore, your reasoning faculty is untainted by every evil, free from passion, and separated from all defilement, you are blessed in your keen-sightedness, because you, having been cleansed, perceive that which is invisible to those who have not been cleansed; and, with the material haze removed from the eyes of your soul, you behold clearly the blessed spectacle in the pure clarity of your heart. And what is this? Purity, holiness, simplicity—all such radiant splendors of the divine nature, through which God is seen. ^D But that these things are so, we do not doubt from what has been said. Yet our discourse still leaves the matter originally questioned in the same state of perplexity. For just as he who has arrived in heaven enjoys participation in the heavenly wonders, yet the mode of ascending is obstructed, which causes those things about which there is no controversy to be of no profit to us; so, it is not doubted that blessedness comes into being through the purification of the heart, but how one might be able to purify the heart from defilements appears to be a difficulty exactly the same as that which appears in the ascent into heaven. What then is the ladder of Jacob? What fiery chariot will be found, similar to that which lifted up the prophet Elijah to heaven, by which the heart

^A lifted up, shall cast off this earthly weight? For if any man should consider the necessary passions and vices of the soul, he will think it impossible and impracticable to remove these conjoined evils. Our generation begins at once from passion, and through passion its growth proceeds, and in passion our life ends; and evil is in some sort commingled with our nature, through those who from the beginning received the passion, who through disobedience introduced and brought in the disease. But just as the nature of living creatures is carried on ^B and propagated in the succession of those born into each species, so that according to the law of nature that which is born is the same as that from which it was born; so from man, man is born—from one subject to passion, one subject to passion; from a sinner, a sinner. Therefore, in a certain manner, sin subsists together with those who are born, being born with them, growing with them, and ending with the term of life. But that virtue is difficult for us to attain, to be achieved only with ^C immense sweats and toils, with study and labor, we have learned in many places from the holy Scripture, hearing of the narrow road of the kingdom, which leads through straits, while the road of wickedness, which leads life to destruction, is broad, downhill, and easy to run. Yet Scripture, which has set forth the miracles of so many men in the sacred books, does not declare the lofty life to be altogether impossible. But since the understanding of the promise of seeing God is twofold—the one being the knowledge of the nature that presides over the universe in the heavens, ^D and the other the being tempered and joined to Him through the purity of one's life—the voice of the saints declares that the first kind of contemplation is impossible and unattainable, but the Lord promises the second to human nature through the present teaching, saying, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Furthermore, how it is possible to become pure, you may learn through almost the entire evangelical teaching; for if you run through the precepts set down in order, you will discover a manifest remedy for the purification of the heart. For having divided wickedness into two parts, that which consists in deeds and that which is formed in thoughts, He first punished, through the ancient law, the wickedness revealed by deeds; but now He causes the law [D, cont.] to look toward the other kind of sin, not punishing the wicked deed, but providing and taking heed that the evil may not even exist at the beginning. For to remove wickedness from the settled will is, by a great surplus, to render life a stranger to evil deeds. Since wickedness is manifold and of many kinds, He has assigned to each of the things forbidden a specific remedy and cure through the precepts. And since the disease of anger is for the most part ready and prone to occur throughout the whole of life, He begins the cure from that which is most prevalent, legislating freedom from anger first. You were taught, He says, by the ancient

^A law: You shall not kill; now learn to remove from the soul wrath against your neighbors. For He did not forbid anger altogether; for it is possible to use such an impulse of the soul at some time for a good purpose; but that to be wrathful towards a brother for no good reason, this is what the precept extinguished and removed. For everyone who is angry with his brother without cause. For the addition of the word "without cause" shows that the use of anger is often timely and opportune, when that passion boils up for the punishment of sin. The account of Scripture attributes this kind of anger to Phinehas, when by the slaughter of the transgressors he appeased the threat of God that had been stirred up against the people. ^B Again, He passes to the healing of those things which are wronged through pleasure, and He removes the strange desire of adultery from the heart through the commandment. Thus you will find the Lord correcting all things feature by feature, standing with His laws against every form of wickedness. He forbids provoking a fight with injury, for it is through this that He does not even permit one to repel an injury. He destroys the vice of avarice by commanding that we not only suffer ourselves to be stripped, but that we also concede to the adversary what has been left to us. He heals timidity, commanding us to be contemptuous of death. And in short, through every prohibition you will find the word, like a plowshare, digging out the wicked roots of sins from the depths of our heart, through which bans it is possible ^C to be cleansed of thorny fruit-bearing. Therefore, He renders a service to our nature in both ways, both by promising in each case the good, and by suggesting to us doctrine toward the proposed matter. But if the pursuit of good things seems laborious to you, compare the matter with the contrary life, and you will find how much more laborious and troublesome malice and wickedness are, if you look not at the present, but at what comes after. For he who has heard of Gehenna will no longer abstain from pleasures joined with sin with toil and effort; but fear alone injected into the mind will suffice to expel the vices. Or rather, it is well for those who have understood what is tacitly implied to conceive from this a more vehement desire. For if they are blessed ^D who are endowed with a pure heart, those who have a sordid mind are altogether miserable, because they gaze upon the face of the adversary. And if the divine likeness itself is imprinted upon a life joined with virtue, it is clear that a vicious life becomes the form and face of the adversary. Moreover, if according to various considerations God is named by any of those terms which are understood regarding the good—light, and life, and incorruptibility, and whatever things are of such a kind—then, from the opposite, that which is contrary to each of these will be named for the inventor of wickedness: darkness, and death, and corruption, and whatever things are kindred and of the same nature as these. Since, therefore, we have learned through what means both wickedness and a life according to virtue are formed, and since the power to choose either of these according to the self-determination of our will lies before us, let us flee from the form of the devil, let us put off the wicked mask, let us take up the divine image, and let us become pure in

heart, that we may become blessed, the divine image being formed in us through a pure life, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

ORATION VII

The holy tabernacle of the testimony, which the lawgiver fashioned for the Israelites according to the pattern shown to him by God on the mountain, was in every detail holy and sacred, in so much as was contained within the enclosure. But the innermost part of this was inaccessible and unapproachable, called the Holy of Holies; for, as I think, this superlative formation of the name indicates that that part did not share in holiness on the same equal terms with the rest, but that as much as the consecrated and holy differs from the common and profane, by that much this inaccessible part, into which it was not permitted to go or penetrate, was holier and purer than the sacred things which surrounded it. In the same way, therefore, I believe that of the beatitudes that have been previously pointed out to us on this mountain, all that the divine discourse previously laid out are indeed holy and sacred in every detail; but what is now proposed for contemplation and discourse is truly an inaccessible Holy of Holies. ^B For if to see God is supreme in goodness, to become a son of God is surely beyond every state of happiness. For what invention of words, what significance composed of names, will embrace the gift of such a promise? Whatever one may conceive with a more intense mental effort, that which is signified is altogether beyond it; if you call that which is proposed according to this beatitude by the promise good, or precious, or exalted, the thing signified is more than the sense of these names suggests. The success and happiness that follow surpass our words; the gift is beyond hope, the grace is beyond nature. What is man when judged in comparison with the divine nature? Whose voice shall I cite from among the saints, by which the human is humbled? According to Abraham, it is earth and ashes; according to Isaiah, grass; according to David, not even grass, but similar to grass. ^C For the former says, "All flesh is grass," but the latter says, "Man is as grass." According to Ecclesiastes, it is vanity; according to Paul, it is misery. For by those words with which the Apostle designated himself, he pities the whole human race. This is man. But what is God? How shall I say what He is, of whom there is no power to see, nor to hear, nor to comprehend in the heart? With what words shall I declare His nature? What pattern of this good shall I find among known things? What words shall I coin for the significance of the unutterable and inexpressible? ^D I have heard the divinely inspired Scripture speaking at length concerning the transcendent nature; but what are these things compared to the nature itself? For the discourse told only as much as I was able to receive, not as much as the...

^A For just as those who breathe in the air according to the capacity within each—one taking in more, another less—do not, by containing much air, make the entire element their own, but rather each receives from the whole as much as he is able, and yet the whole remains; so too the teachings of Holy Scripture, which have been set forth for us by those borne along by the Holy Spirit, are, in relation to the measure of our understanding, lofty and great and beyond all magnitude, yet they do not attain to the true magnitude. "Who has measured the heaven with a span," it says, "and the water with his hand, and the whole earth with his fist?" Do you see the grandeur of Him who depicts the ineffable power? But what of these things compared to that which is in truth? For the prophetic discourse has indicated a part of the divine activity in such magnificent language; but it has neither told, nor was it going to tell, of the power itself from which the activity proceeds—not to mentions the nature from which the power originates; nay, it even reproves in its discourse those who, by certain conjectures, depict and fashion the Divine Numen as if by shadow, bringing forth such words as if from the person of God: "To whom have you likened me?" says the Lord. And Ecclesiastes provides the same counsel in his own words: "Do not be hasty to bring forth a word before the face of God; for God is in heaven above, and you upon the earth below"—showing, I think, by the distance of the elements from one another, how far the divine nature transcends earthly thoughts. ^C Yet to this thing, so great and such, which one may neither see, nor hear, nor comprehend by reason, is the one who is reckoned as nothing in the universe—man, who is ash, who is hay, who is vanity—reconciled, and is taken up by the God of all into the rank of a son. What thanksgiving can be found worthy of this benefit? What voice, what mind, what movement of thought, through which one might celebrate the superabundance of this grace? Man transcends his own nature, immortal from mortal, incorrupt from fragile and perishable, eternal from ephemeral, and, in a word, becoming god from man. For when he is deemed worthy to become a son of God, he will surely have within himself the dignity of the Father, and he comes to be an heir of all the Father’s goods. Oh, the magnificent generosity of the rich Master! Oh, the wide-reaching palm! Oh, the great hand! How great are the gifts of these secret treasures! Out of philanthropy He leads the nature that was dishonored by sin to a condition of honor almost equal to His own. For if He grants to men the nearness and relationship of that which He Himself is by nature, does He not promise nothing other than a parity of honor through this kinship? ^D

^A The prize then is so great; but what is the contest? If you are a peacemaker, He says, you shall be crowned with the dignity of adoption. To me, it seems that the work itself, for which He promises so great a reward, is another gift. For what is sweeter to men for the enjoyment of the things pursued in this life than a peaceful life? For whatever you may name among the pleasant things in life, it has need of peace to be pleasant. For if all things were present that are held in honor in life—wealth, good health, a wife, children, a house, parents, servants, friends; the earth, the sea, enriching both with their own produce; gardens, hunts, baths, wrestling schools, gymnasia; and all the inventions of pleasure—and if there were added to these pleasant spectacles and musical performances, and whatever else exists by which life is made sweet to those who seek pleasures: if all these things were present, but the good of peace were not there, what would be the gain of those things? What would they profit, when war hinders us from enjoying these good things? Therefore, this peace is delightful to those who partake of it, and it makes all things that are honored in life sweet and pleasant. Furthermore, if any calamity according to the human condition befalls us in peace, the evil, tempered with goodness, becomes lighter and easier to bear for those who suffer it; but when war presses upon life, we are in a way insensitive toward such causes of sorrows. For common calamity ^B exceeds individual misfortunes in its pains. And just as physicians say regarding bodily ailments, that if two pains meet at once in one body, the perception of only the greater one exists, while the pain of the lesser evil lies hidden in a way, being stolen away by the onset of the prevailing one; so too, the evils of war, exceeding those that are grievous, render men insensitive to their own individual misfortunes. ^C But if the soul is in a way numbed toward the perception of its own private evils, being struck with terror by the common evils of war, how will it have a perception of pleasant things? Where are weapons and horses, and sharpened iron, and the blaring trumpet? And phalanxes bristling with spears, and shields pressed together, and helmets nodding fearsomely with their crests, the collisions, the pushes, the struggles, the battles, the manslaughters, the flights, the pursuits, the wailings, the shouts, the earth being moistened with blood, the dead being trampled, the wounded being abandoned, and all the things that belong to the bitter accidents of war? Does, then, one who is in the midst of these ever incline his mind toward the memory of that which brings gladness? And if ever the memory of some most pleasant thing should steal into the soul, does not the mention of one's dearest ones, entering the mind in the time of dangers, become an addition to the calamity? Therefore, He who promises you a reward, if you should be separated from the evils of war, has granted you two gifts. For one gift is the prize; and the other gift is the contest itself. So that even if nothing were promised by way of hope to such a one, peace itself, for its own sake, would be more worthy of pursuit to those who have sense. In this, therefore, it is possible to recognize the excess of His philanthropy, that He has granted the good recompenses, not through labors and sweats, but in a way through comforts and delights; if indeed

the head of all gratifying things is peace, of which He desires so much to be present with each one, that not only might he have it himself, but ^A from his great abundance might also distribute it to those who do not have it.

For blessed, He says, are the peacemakers. A peacemaker is one who gives peace to another; but no one could provide to another what he does not have himself. He desires, therefore, that you should first be full of the good things of peace, and then in this way reach out to those who are in need of such a possession. And let not the discourse too curiously inquire into the speculation lying in the deep; for the obvious meaning is sufficient for us for the acquisition of the good. Blessed are the peacemakers. The discourse provides the cure for many diseases in a short remedy, by this summary and more general expression grasping what pertains to each individual. Let us first understand what peace is. What else is it but a loving disposition toward one's fellow-man? What then is understood as contrary to love? Hatred, wrath, anger, envy, grudges, hypocrisy, and the calamity of war. Do you see against how many and what kind of diseases this one expression is, as it were, a prophylactic remedy? For peace stands against each of the things mentioned on an equal footing, and by its own presence brings about the abolition of the evil. For just as when health arrives, the disease vanishes, and when light appears, darkness is not left behind; so also when peace appears, all the evils that are formed from the contrary are dissolved. ^B And as for how great a good this is, I do not think it necessary to go through it in my discourse; you yourself consider and weigh what the life is like of those who labor under mutual suspicions and hatreds, whose encounters and meetings are indeed unlucky, and all things between them are abominable and detestable; their mouths are devoid of speech, and their glances averted; and their ears are stopped against the voice of the one hating and being hated. And whatever is dear to one of them is not dear to the other; and conversely, whatever is hostile and enemy-like is pleasing and acceptable to the adversary and enemy. As therefore aromatics of good and sweet odor replenish the surrounding air with their own fragrance, so He desires the grace of peace to abound for you in such surplus, that your life may be a cure for another’s disease. But you will recognize more precisely how great a good this is, if you ponder the calamities of each of the diseases that arise in the soul from an inimical disposition. Who could worthily set forth the affections and vices of wrath? What discourse will describe the ugliness of such a disease? You see the affections of those who are vexed by a demon appear in those who are overcome by anger. Ponder in comparison, both what happens to the wrathful and what happens to those seized by a demon, and whether there is any difference in these things. Bloodshot and distorted are the eyes of those possessed by demons, deranged is the tongue, harsh is the utterance, sharp and barking is the voice. These are common to both anger and the demon: shaking of the head, convulsive movements of the hands, a boiling of the whole body,

and ^B unstable feet. The description of both diseases is one and the same through these accidents. Only so much does the one differ from the other, that the one is a voluntary evil, while the other befalls those in whom it occurs without their will. And how much more miserable it is if something, against the inclination of the soul, happens to anyone, than if he should fall into calamity by his own impulse! For if anyone observes the disease that comes from a demon, he cannot but pity him; but the madness arising from anger, as soon as it is seen, is also imitated by the beholder, who deems it a loss if he does not surpass in his own infirmity the one who began to be ill. And the demon, indeed, while twisting the body of the one who is exposed to it, extends the evil no further than to make the hands of the raging man strike the air in vain; but the demon of anger does not cause idle movements of the body. For when the passion has prevailed, and the blood about the heart has boiled over beyond measure, black bile, as they say, having been diffused throughout the body from ^C the irascible temperament, then, on account of the compression of the internal vapors, all the sensory organs around the head are brought into a strait; the eyes are pushed out beyond the boundaries of the eyelids, intent upon the object which causes offense with a bloodshot and draconic gaze; the vitals are constricted by panting, the veins in the neck swell, the tongue becomes thick, and the voice, with the windpipe constricted, of its own accord becomes shrill. The lips, by the sowing of that cold bile, harden and grow dark, and become sluggish toward their natural parting and closing, so that they cannot even contain the saliva redundant in the mouth, but emit it together with the words, as the forced sound also spits out foam. Then, therefore, one may see the hands and feet also being moved by the disease. But these members are no longer moved in vain, as happens in those who are vexed by a demon, but to the destruction of those who are engaged with one another through the disease. For at once the impulses are directed against the vital parts of the ^D sensory organs that are vulnerable to the blows of those who are striking at each other. And if by chance the mouth should approach the body in the struggle, not even the teeth remain idle, but, like a wild beast, they fasten upon those they have attacked. And who could count one by one all the evils which have their origin from anger? Therefore, he who hinders such unseemliness might justly be called blessed and honorable, by reason of this great benefit. For if he who has delivered a man from some bodily malady is honorable by reason of such a good deed, how much more shall he who has freed the soul from this disease be considered a benefactor of life by those who have understanding? For by as much as the soul is better than the body, by so much is he who heals souls more honorable than those who heal bodies. And let no one think that I consider the unpleasantness of the evils resulting from anger to be the most grievous and atrocious. For the vice of envy and hypocrisy seems to me, when compared to the aforementioned disease, to be far more grievous than...

that which is manifest. For we are more on our guard against those dogs whose barking does not presage their fury, nor is their attack made from the front, but who, with a mild and gentle manner, lie in wait for our lack of foresight and our inadvertence. Such is the vice of envy and hypocrisy; in those in whom it exists, hatred—like some fire—is nurtured secretly within, in the very depths of the heart, while the outward countenance is fashioned into a semblance of friendship. And just as if a fire were hidden under chaff, for a time it consumes and corrupts whatever lies nearby from within, though no flame is displayed openly—rather, a ^B thick smoke of heavy and acrid odor is forced out from within—yet if it should happen to find a draft, then it is fanned into a bright and manifest flame: so too, envy consumes the heart from within, like a fire devouring a pile of chaff compressed into a heap. It hides its sickness out of shame, yet it is not able to be completely concealed; instead, like some acrid smoke, the bitterness of envy is made evident in the symptoms that appear about the person. But if some calamity should befall the one who is envied, then it makes the sickness manifest, taking pleasure and joy in the other's grief. But the hidden things of this passion are indicted, as long as it seems to lie concealed, by the manifest signs upon the face. For the lethal signs of those beyond hope are often found in the person who is wasting away with envy: ^C dry eyes, receding within shrunken and wasted eyelids; the eyebrow contracted; the bones showing through where the flesh should be. But what is the cause of this sickness? It is, of course, that a brother, or a kinsman and close associate, or a neighbor lives in peace of mind and joy. O strange injuries! To make it a crime that another is not miserable—he whose prosperity grieves him! Judging it an injury, not because he himself has suffered some harm from him, but because that man lives according to his own heart's content without harming anyone, and dwells in pleasant circumstances. What have you suffered, unhappy man? I would gladly say to him: For what injury do you waste away, looking with bitter eyes upon the prosperity of your neighbor? What accusation do you have? If he is handsome of body; if he is ^D adorned with eloquence; if he has the advantage in birth; if he is seen to be illustrious in rank, having entered upon some magistracy; if some abundance of money has come to him; if, because of his prudence, there is authority in his words; if he is regarded by the multitude because of his kindness; if he takes pride in his children; if he finds joy in his wife; if he is renowned through the splendor and magnificence of his house's income and profits—why do these things strike your heart like the points of arrows? You clasp your hands; you intertwine your fingers; you are distressed in your thoughts; you draw sighs from the depths of your heart as signs of your pain; the fruit of income and profits is distasteful to you; your table is bitter; your hearth is gloomy; your ears are ready and eager for those who slander him who is enjoying good fortune.

[GREEK COLUMN] μενος, τὰ ἐναντία δι' ἀποῤῥήτων κατὰ ψυχὴν ἐπ- ^A αρώμενος ; Τοιοῦτος ὁ Κάϊν, ὁ τῇ εὐδοκιμήσει τοῦ ῞Αβελ ἐπιλυσσήσας· ὁ φθόνος μὲν ἔνδοθεν τὸν φόνον ἐνεκελεύετο, ἡ δὲ ὑπόθεσις δήμιος γίνεται· φίλον γάρ τι καὶ προσήγορον ὑπελθὼν σχῆμα, τῆς τῶν γονέων συμμαχίας πόρρωθεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ πεδίον προήγαγεν· εἶθ' οὕτως ἐξεκάλυψε τῷ φόνῳ τὸν φθόνον. Ὁ τοίνυν τὴν τοιαύτην νόσον ἐκβάλλων τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ζωῆς, καὶ εὐνοίᾳ τε καὶ εἰρήνῃ, συνδεσμῶν τὸ ὁμόφυλον, καὶ εἰς φιλικὴν ὁμοφωνίαν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἄγων, ἆρ᾽ οὐχὶ θείας ὄντως δυνάμεως ἔργον ποιεῖ, τὰ μὲν κακὰ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως περιορίζων, ἀντεισάγων δὲ τὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν κοινωνίαν; Διὰ τοῦτο υἱὸν Θεοῦ τὸν εἰρηνοποιὸν ὀνομάζει, ὅτι μιμητής γίνεται τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ ταῦτα τῇ ζωῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων χαριζόμενος.

Μακάριοι τοίνυν οἱ εἰρηνοποιοί, ὅτι αὐτοὶ υἱοὶ Θεοῦ κληθήσονται. Τίνες οὗτοι ; Οἱ μιμηταὶ τῆς θείας φιλανθρωπίας, οἱ τὸ ἴδιον τῆς θείας ἐνεργείας ἐπὶ τοῦ ἰδίου δεικνύντες βίου. Ἀναιρεῖ καθόλου καὶ εἰς τὸ μὴ ὂν περιίστησιν, ὁ τῶν ἀγαθῶν εὐεργέτης καὶ Κύριος, πᾶν ὅσον ἐστὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἔκφυλόν τε καὶ ἀλλότριον. Ταύτην νομοθετεῖ καὶ σοὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν, ἐκβάλλειν τὸ μῖσος, καταλύειν τὸν πόλεμον, ἀφανίζειν τὸν φθόνον, ἐξορίζειν τὴν μάχην, ἀναιρεῖν τὴν ὑπόκρισιν, κατασβεννύειν ἔνδοθεν τὴν ὑποσμύχουσαν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μνησικακίαν· ἀντεισάγειν δὲ ἀντὶ τούτων, ὅσα τῇ ὑπεξαιρέσει τῶν ἐναντίων ἀντικάθηται. Ὡς γὰρ τῇ τοῦ σκότους ὑποχωρήσει τὸ φῶς ἐπιγίνεται, οὕτω καὶ ἀνθ᾿ ἑκάστου τούτων, ὁ τοῦ πνεύματος καρπὸς ἀντεισέρχεται, ἀγάπη, χαρά, εἰρήνη, χρηστότης, μακροθυμία, ἅπας ὁ τῷ Ἀποστόλῳ κατειλεγμένος τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀριθμός. Πῶς οὖν οὐ μακάριος ὁ τῶν θείων δωρεῶν διανομεύς; Ὁ μιμητὴς τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ χαρισμάτων; Ὁ τῇ θείᾳ μεγαλοδωρεᾷ τὰς ἰδίας ἐξομοιῶν εὐποιίας; Τάχα δὲ οὐ πρὸς τὸ ἀλλότριον ἀγαθὸν μόνον ὁ μακαρισμὸς βλέπει· ἀλλ᾽ οἶμαι κυρίως εἰρηνοποιὸν χρηματίζειν, τὸν τὴν ἐν ἑαυτῷ στάσιν τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος, καὶ τὸν ἐμφύλιον τῆς φύσεως πόλεμον εἰς εἰρηνικὴν συμφωνίαν ἄγοντα, ὅταν μηκέτι ἐνεργὸς ᾖ ὁ τοῦ σώματος νόμος, ὁ ἀντιστρατευόμενος τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοὸς, ἀλλ᾽ ὑποζευχθεὶς τῇ κρείττονι βασιλείᾳ ὑπηρέτης γίνεται τῶν θείων ἐπιταγμάτων. Μᾶλλον δὲ μὴ τοῦτο νομίσωμεν συμβουλεύειν τὸν λόγον, τὸ ἐν δυάδι νοεῖσθαι τῶν κατορθωκότων τὸν βίον· ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὰν ἐξαιρεθῇ τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν φραγμοῦ τὸ μεσότοιχον τῆς κακίας, εἷς οἱ δύο τῇ πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ἀνακρίσει συμφυέντες γίνονται. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἁπλοῦν τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἀσύνθετον, καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον εἶναι πεπίστευται, ὅταν καὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον διὰ τῆς τοιαύτης εἰρηνοποιΐας, ἔξω τῆς κατὰ τὴν διπλῆν συνθέσεως γένηται, καὶ ἀκριβῶς εἰς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐπανέλθῃ, ἁπλοῦν τε καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον, καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἓν γενόμενον, ὡς ταὐτὸν εἶναι τῷ κρυπτῷ τὸ φαινόμενον, καὶ τῷ φαινομένῳ τὸ κεκρυμμένον· τότε ἀληθῶς κυροῦται ὁ μακαρισμὸς, καὶ λέ-

[LATIN COLUMN] that is spoken in a favorable and auspicious way, ears are closed to the sermon. And being thus disposed, why do you cover up your malady with simulation? How is the persona of friendship formed in you through feigned benevolence? Why do you receive me with auspicious greetings, bidding me to be healthy and well, while secretly invoking the opposite in your heart? Such was Cain, who, because Abel was approved and pleasing, turned to rage and fury: envy indeed urged him inwardly toward slaughter, while simulation was the executioner. For feigning some friendly, mild, and kindly countenance, he drew him far from the help and protection of their parents into the field, and thus afterward revealed his envy by the murder. Whoever, therefore, casts such a disease out of human life, and binds together by benevolence and peace those who are joined by birth, and leads men to friendship and concord, does he not perform a work of truly divine power, expelling evils from human nature and introducing in their place a communion of good things? Therefore he calls the peacemaker a son of God, because he shows himself an imitator of the true God, who bestows these things upon the life of men.

^B Blessed, therefore, are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Who are these? Those who are imitators of divine philanthropy, who demonstrate in their own life that which is proper to divine working. The Giver of good things and Lord removes and reduces to nothing everything that is foreign to the nature of the good and alien to the Good. He prescribes this work and duty to you also: to cast out hatred, to end war, to abolish envy, to exterminate conflict, to remove simulation, and to extinguish inwardly in your heart the tenacious memory of injuries that smolders and inflames; but against these, to introduce in their place all those things that stand in opposition when their contraries are removed. For as light follows upon the retreat of darkness, so also in the place of these does the fruit of the Spirit enter—love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness—all the number of good things enumerated by the Apostle. How, then, is the distributor and dispenser of divine gifts not blessed? The imitator of God’s bounty? The one who makes his own acts of kindness equal to divine munificence? Perhaps, however, blessedness does not look only toward the good of another, but I think he is properly called a peacemaker who brings the sedition of flesh and spirit within himself, and the internal war of nature, to a peaceful harmony and consent, when the law of the body, which wars against the law of the mind, is no longer active, but, having been yoked to the superior kingdom, becomes a servant of the divine commands. Rather, let us not think that the Word counsels that the life of those who have acted rightly must be considered and received in a binary state, but when the dividing wall of wickedness—which is in us—is removed, the two become one, united by the regard for the better. Since, therefore, the divine nature is believed to be simple and incomposite and without form, when the human [creature] also, through such peacemaking, is removed from the composition of the double, and perfectly returns to the good, being simple and without form, and truly becoming one, so that the visible is the same as the hidden, and the hidden as the visible, then the beatitude is truly confirmed, and it is said-

by the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. ^A

ORATION VIII

*Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.*

The sublime order of the teaching of the disciplines brings this present meditation on the saying to the eighth degree; but I maintain it is well to consider first, by reason and discourse, what is the mystery of the eighth spoken of by the Prophet, which is prefixed to two psalms; and what is the purification, and what the ordinance of circumcision, both of which the law required to be observed on the eighth day. Perhaps this number has some kinship with the eighth beatitude, which, as the vertex of all beatitudes, is placed at the highest degree of the ascent of the good. For there, too, the Prophet designates the day of the resurrection by the shroud and enigma of the eighth, and the purification signifies the return of the defiled man to his natural purity, and the circumcision interprets the shedding of the dead skins which, after disobedience, we put on when we were stripped of life: ^B and here, too, the eighth beatitude contains the restoration into the heavens of those who had indeed fallen into slavery, but were called back again from slavery into the kingdom. For, "Blessed," he says, "are they which are persecuted for my sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Behold the end and outcome of the divine contests, the reward for the labors undertaken for God, the prize for the sweat, whereby the athletes attain the kingdom of heaven. No longer does the hope of happiness wander about a thing unstable and varying with mutations. For the earthly realm is for those things which vary and change by alternation; but of those things which appear and move through the heavens, we judge nothing of the sort, such that they do not exist in the same way and similarly, but all things that are in the heavens ^C proceed in a series, and order, and consequence along their own course. Do you see, then, the excellence of the gift? That He does not grant the magnitude of the dignity in those things which change, lest any fear of mutation should trouble our better hopes; but by saying "kingdom of heaven," He shows that the gift which is set before us in hope is not mutable, but always exists in the same way.

However, the question that comes to my mind to inquire from what has been said is this: first, why does He bring the one who is "poor in spirit" into the same place as those who are "persecuted for His sake," and propose an equal reward for both? (For those whose reward is the same, their struggles, surely, are also equal.) Then, how is it that, when He divides the right from the left, inviting them to the kingdom of heaven, ^D He assigns different reasons for such honor? For when He brings forward there sympathy, and the sharing of gifts, and brotherly love, He makes mention of neither the spiritual...

poverty, nor of the persecution on account of Him; ^A although, at first sight, these things seem to be much separated from one another. For what has poverty in common with being persecuted? Or, conversely, what agreement has this with the effects of loving sympathy? Someone has fed the needy, or clothed the naked, or welcomed a traveler under their roof, or rendered the possible care to one who is sick or imprisoned; what has this in common with being impoverished and persecuted, as regards the reason for the act? The former heals the calamities of others; but each of the latter, both he who is impoverished and he who is persecuted, has need of those who heal them: but what further? In all respects they are equal. For it leads equally to heaven both him who has been impoverished in spirit, and him who has been persecuted on His account, and those who have shown sympathy toward their fellow man. What, then, do we say to these things? That all things are held together and turn and breathe toward that one goal. For poverty is favorable to moving on, and the love of the poor is not alienated from poverty. But it seems good to me first to investigate the present discourse, and then in this way to examine the agreement and the meaning that lies in those matters which have been questioned.

^B Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake. From whence are they persecuted, and by whom? The immediate reasoning shows us the arena of the martyrs, and signifies the course of the faith. For persecution interprets the intense zeal of the runner as regards speed; or rather, it also signifies victory in the running. For it is not possible for one to win in running, if he has not left behind him the one running together with him. Since, therefore, both he who runs toward the prize of the upward calling, and he who is chased for the sake of the prize by the enemy, have equally behind them—the one, his rival, and the other, his pursuer—(these, however, are they who complete the course of martyrdom in the contests for piety, being pursued but not overtaken), it seems that the sum of the blessedness proposed in hope is, as it were, a crown placed at the end in these words. For it is blessed indeed, truly, to be persecuted for the sake of the Lord. For what reason? Because to be chased by the evil one results in a cause for attaining the good. ^C For the alienation from the wicked one becomes an occasion for kinship with the good; and the Good, and that which is above every good, is the Lord Himself, toward whom he who is persecuted runs. ^D Therefore, he is truly blessed who uses his enemy as an assistant toward the good. For since human life is placed on the boundary of the good and the worse, just as he who has slipped from the high and good hope ends up in the pit, so he who has been removed from sin and alienated from corruption comes to possess righteousness and incorruptibility. So that, regarding the persecution that occurs at the hands of tyrants against the martyrs, the form, as it appears at first sight, seems to be grievous to the senses; but the purpose of these...

things exceeds all blessedness. ^A It would be more convenient for us to observe the meaning of the discourse through examples and comparisons. Who does not know how much more grievous and burdensome it is judged to be sought by treachery than to be loved? Yet this thing, which seems burdensome, often becomes for many the cause of happiness throughout this life, as the Scripture shows concerning Joseph, who, having been sought by the treachery of his brothers and removed from their company and fellowship, was, through his being sold, appointed king over those whose treachery he had suffered; perhaps he would not have advanced to such great dignity had not envy, through that treachery, paved the way to the kingdom.

Just as, therefore, if someone endowed with the knowledge of things to come had foretold to Joseph: "Being sought by treachery, you shall be blessed," it would not have appeared credible at first sight to the hearer who looked at the immediate pain—for he would not have thought it possible that a good end could be revealed from an evil intention—so too here, the persecution brought upon the faithful by tyrants, while having much bitterness according to the sense, makes the hope of the kingdom set before them by means of these pains difficult for those more subject to the flesh to accept. ^B But the Lord, disregarding the corruption of nature, foretells to the weaker ones what the outcome of the laborious contest is, so that by the hope of the kingdom they may easily overcome the temporary sense of afflictions. On this account, the great Stephen rejoices while stoned on all sides, and eagerly receives the frequent blows of the stones upon his body like some sweet dew, falling like flakes of snow, and repays his murderous executioners with blessings, praying that this sin might not be imputed to them, because he had heard the promise and saw the hope coinciding with the things that were appearing. For, having heard that those who have suffered persecution for the sake of the Lord would dwell in the kingdom of heaven, while he was suffering persecution, he saw that which was hoped for: for to him, as he ran through his confession, that which was hoped for is shown—heaven opened, divine glory looking down from the supermundane realms upon the contest of the one running, and He Himself who is celebrated by the testimony of the athlete in the contests. For the standing of the president at the contest signifies through a riddle and an envelopment of words the help that was being brought to the combatant, so that through this we might learn that it is the same One who both organizes and arranges the contests and who stands with His own combatants and athletes against the adversaries.

What, therefore, could be more blessed than the one who suffers persecution for the sake of the Lord, to whom it is permitted to have the president of the contest as his assistant in the struggle? ^C For it is not easy, and I know not if it is even entirely possible at all, for someone to prefer the good that does not appear over the pleasant things of this life that do appear, so as to choose easily to be expelled from one's home, or to be separated from wife and children, from brothers and sisters, from parents and peers, and to prefer to be devoid of all things that are pleasant and sweet throughout life, unless the Lord Himself helps the one who has been called according to His purpose toward the good. For whom He foreknows, as the Apostle says, him

^A He predestines, and calls, and justifies, and glorifies. Since, therefore, the soul is in a way grown together with the pleasures of life through the bodily senses, and is delighted by the pleasant color of matter through the eyes, and has an inclination toward pleasant sounds through the ears, and is likewise affected by smell, and taste, and touch, according as it is natural for it to be disposed toward each of these; for this reason, being as it were fastened by the sensory power to the pleasures of life like a nail, it is with difficulty separated from those things to which it has grown and attached itself. And, like tortoises and snails which are bound up in a kind of earthen shell, it is slow to move toward such movements, dragging along the whole weight of life. Therefore, one who is in such a state easily becomes vulnerable to those who persecute her with threats of confiscation of property, or loss, or any other of the things eagerly sought after in this life, easily yielding and becoming subject to the persecutor. But when the living Word, as the Apostle says, the active and sharp ^B word, sharper than any two-edged sword, enters into the one who has truly received the faith, and cuts through what has grown together in an evil way, and breaks the bonds of habit; then, having shaken off the worldly pleasures—which are like a burden tied to the soul—as a runner casts off a burden from his shoulders, light and nimble he proceeds through the stadium of the contests, using as a guide for his course the Umpire of the games Himself. For he does not look at what he has left behind, but at what he is pursuing; nor does he turn his eye back to what is pleasant behind him, but presses toward the good that is set before him; nor is he grieved by the loss of earthly things, but rejoices in the gain of heavenly things. For this reason, he readily receives every form of torment as a help and ally ^C for the joy set before him: the fire as a purifier of matter; the sword as a separator of the soul's union with material and fleshly things; whatever intensity of pains and torments [there may be], he eagerly receives them as the antidote to the wicked poison that comes through pleasure. Just as those who are bilious and have an excess of bile readily swallow bitter medicine, so that through it the cause of the disease might be purged away; so he who is persecuted by the enemy and flees to God receives the incursion of painful things, which are a quenching agent for the activity of pleasure; for it is not possible to take pleasure when one is in pain. Since, therefore, sin entered through pleasure, for this reason it shall certainly be expelled by its opposite. And so, those who persecute others for the sake of their confession of the Lord, and who devise the unbearable forms of torments, are applying a certain cure ^D to souls through pains, treating the disease of pleasure with the assaults of painful things. Thus, Paul receives the cross; James the sword; Stephen the stones; the blessed Peter the crucifixion head-downward; and all the contestants of the faith after them, [enduring] the manifold forms of torments, wild beasts, chasms, fires, the freezing of the cold, the flaying of the sides, the beheadings, the...

amputations of the fingers, the tearings of either part of the body through the legs, the wasting away by hunger—all these and such like the saints accepted with joy as purgations of sin, so that no trace inscribed upon the heart through pleasure might be left behind, since this bitter and sharp sense wipes away all the imprints impressed upon the soul by pleasure. ^A

Blessed, therefore, are those who are persecuted for my sake. This is such that (if we understand the other argument as well) it is as if someone who had the power and ability to speak for health were to say: Blessed are those who are freed from disease for my sake, for the alienation from grievous and troublesome things brings it about that they abide in me, who were once sick. Let us hear the voice in such a way as if Life itself were proclaiming such blessedness to us: Blessed are those whom death pursues for my sake; as if Light were to say: Blessed are those whom darkness pursues for my sake. ^B Similarly also justice, holiness, incorruption, and integrity, goodness, and every thought and concept of the mind from among those things which are understood and spoken of in a better sense. The Lord, therefore, as He is understood, let Him be thought to say to you: Blessed is everyone who is driven and barred from every contrary thing—from corruption, from darkness, from sin, from injustice, from fraud and avarice, from each of those things which are opposed to the arguments, deeds, and thoughts of virtue. For to be outside of evils is to have been moved and established within the good. ^C “He who commits sin,” says the Lord, “is a slave of sin.” Therefore, he who has departed from that to which he was enslaved exercises freedom as far as standing and dignity are concerned. Now the highest form of freedom is to have become one’s own master and authority. But the dignity of a kingdom has no tyranny above itself. Therefore, if he who is alien to sin is his own master; and the property of a kingdom is absolute rule and a power supreme and full, subject to the judgment and dominion of no other: consequently, he is judged blessed who is driven by evil and suffers persecution, since that persecution procures for him regal dignity. ^D Let us not grieve, therefore, nor bear it ill, brothers, that we are expelled and barred from earthly things: for he who has departed from here dwells in the heavenly kingdom. There are these two elements in the creation of all things, assigned for the habitation of a rational nature: the earth and the heaven. The place of those who have obtained life through the flesh is the earth; but the heaven is for the incorporeal; it is necessary, therefore, that our life should exist somewhere; unless we are driven and cast out from the earth, we remain entirely on the earth; if we depart from here, we shall be taken over to the heaven. Do you see to what point the blessedness leads, through that which seems sad and bitter, bringing about for you so great a good? Having understood this, the Apostle says that “all discipline for the present seems not to be of joy, but of grief; but afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those exercised by it.”

^A Since tribulation is, therefore, the flower of the fruits that are awaited, let us gather this blossom for the sake of the fruit. Let us be persecuted that we may run; and having run, let us not run in vain, but let our course be directed toward the prize of our upward calling; let us run in this way so that we may attain it. What is this that we attain? What is the prize? What is the crown? It does not seem to me to be anything other than the Lord Himself, the object of all our hopes. For He is Himself both the arbiter of those who struggle, and the crown of those who conquer. He is the one who distributes the inheritance; He is the good inheritance; He is the good portion; He is the One who bestows the portion upon you; He is the One who enriches; He is the riches; He is the One who shows you the treasure, and who becomes a treasure for you; He is the One who leads you to desire the beautiful pearl, and who is set before you, as if offered for sale, for you to trade for correctly and effectively. In order that we may acquire that, let us, as if in a marketplace, exchange what we possess for that which ^B we do not possess. Let us not be saddened, therefore, if we are persecuted, but rather let us even rejoice, because, through being driven away from the things that are valued on earth, we are being compelled toward the heavenly good, according to Him who promised that those who are persecuted for His sake are blessed: because theirs is the kingdom of heaven, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; for to Him belongs glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.

ON THE BEATITUDES. ORATION VIII.