Раздел II. О других

1. Epistle of exhortation to Hellenius You ask about the power of my speeches, which no longer exist since I became weak for the world, took upon myself a sweet burden - the Cross that saved me, and exchanged everything human for Christ. 5. And what other speeches I have, they are not too soft and flattering (for such speeches are not pleasing to the most perfect Word). They do not speak about the race, not about the happiness that puffs up the foolish, not about the fiery power of eloquence - this great glory of you and your brother, not about how cities 10. are ruled by the helm of your mighty hand. Let such objects be left to vain words. As for my speeches, you will not find in them even the slightest pleasure to your friends, but you will meet pious advice that will make you better; just have a humble ear. 15. Or maybe you will give my words a better reward by showing your favor to a larger number of people, and not ten needy ones, about whom you, my good one, yesterday gave me your promise and consent, as a man of no small size who shows great mercy to the little. But take these words of mine into account, 20. which I will speak to you from the depths of my heart, borrowing from heavenly books. Some bring gold and silver, and other fine silk fabrics as gifts to God, while others offered themselves as an immaculate sacrifice to Christ, while others pour out pure drops of tears. 25. But from you let the following gift be given to Christ. There are God's servants; Grant them complete freedom, to them, who with a calm mind, perfect souls raise many others to grief and make them the secret places of heaven. Grant freedom to all Christ-bearers who stand above the earth, 30. not bound by the bonds of marriage, barely touching the world, and day and night praising the King with their hymns, shunning earthly acquisitions, with which the prince of the world deceives the pitiful earth-born, mocking them by giving these gifts to one or the other. Grant freedom to those 35. who have one supreme wealth - the hope of receiving something that does not perish and does not pass from hand to hand. They do not need a rib that would love their flesh, they do not rely on a young hand, that is, on children, they do not rely on their half-bloods and comrades, 40. for blood and dust, which will perish in the morning; in cities and societies they are not proud of their arrogant fortress, similar to the fortress of a powerless wind, they do not pursue fleeting human glory - this is the delight of the dreamer, 45. but they raise their entire mind to God, they tie their ship to the Divine solid stone. They are the secret places of the hidden life of Christ the King and, when it appears, they will shine with glory, contemplating the pure radiance of the Trinity, 50. converging and revealing itself to the immaculate eyes, contemplating the great glory of the heavenly army, not in dark forms and not in a few traces of truth. But this will happen later; at least, everything here is worthless smoke and dust for those who preferred heavenly life. 55. Some of them delight in deserted caves and beds ready everywhere on the bare earth, but they hate houses, avoid urban crowds, love peace, akin to heavenly wisdom; 60. others exhaust themselves with iron chains and, thinning the dust, thin out sin along with it; and others, imprisoned in cramped houses, like animals, did not even meet a human face. Often, imitating half the patience of Christ, they spend twenty days and nights without food. 65. I will boast: among them was a sheep from my flock - someone who left this small city. And someone bound his talkative tongue and lips in silence, while with one mind he praised the great Mind. There was also one who for whole years, 70. standing in the sacred church, spread out his clean hands; and the dream did not touch his leaders, but like an animated stone (incredible self-forgetfulness!) he was set up in Christ. The neighbor raven gave the rest of the meager meal to the other, and one piece of bread was enough for both. 75. And someone ascended from here to the divine mountain to Christ, from which he, after suffering, left people, and there, not entertained by word, mind, or body, he stood under the snow and wind, and did not yield to the petitions of the pious men gathered around him, but, having risen with his mind from the earth and becoming higher than people, he firmly held on to the great Christ the King until he created a new home for himself, lifeless when There was no guardian hand found for the burial. 85. Ah! A terrible word has reached me, as if monks, faithful in name and in life, whom many know, are humiliated by a few for ardor that exceeds the requirements of prudent piety - 90. as if the following law was established among such monks. If one of the reverent men comes to them, who does not know our rules, they welcome him in their monasteries, showing him all kinds of friendship, and his heart is delighted with the word of God, which the Spirit has written, and at the same time they offer him a bright meal. 95. Then someone comes out into the middle, reminds them of the harsh rules and (with secretive expressions inviting a cruel word) proposes the following question: is it good for a pious person to accept death for the sake of God? And if the one who comes foolishly praises such a death, he continues: 100. Witnesses of the truth willingly die in many kinds of deaths by their own hands, sometimes not satisfying the needs of the womb, sometimes falling from the mountains into the depths and being strangled. So with joy they move away from the local battle and mournful life! 105. My King Christ! have mercy on the minds that are faithful, but reckless, like a victorious horse rushing far towards its goal, because it has trusted itself to the speed of its feet and is not restrained by the bridle! Everyone enjoys striving for one virtue. 110. Because there are many mansions, there are many ways to acquire them. But why should I describe it in detail? They walk a narrow path that not many people follow here; they enter through the sorrowful gates, where the good enter with much difficulty. 115. Such is the heritage of Christ, such is the fruit of His sufferings that Christ brings from the earth to the Father! This is the support of the word, the glory of people, the foundation of the world, likened to heavenly beauties! Their family is luminous for me too. 120. Let envy cry its eyes out! I ask you to have a good disposition towards them. First, love the meek Kledonius, who lives for the poor and brought everything as a gift to Christ, but first of all himself, and then he brought what he acquired, leaving nothing for earthly life. 125. This is a pearl among costly stones; it is the morning star between the stars; this is the spring between the seasons; this is a rose between plants. Having once been adorned with glory at the court of the king of the earth, he has even greater glory in our fence, because he stands before the King Christ. 130. Love Eulalia, who is superior in many ways to his peers. The great and mighty brother Helladius left him, as if deprived of his half, flying away to the face in which he wanted to be; he himself remained here alone, no longer finding anything better than his Helladius, 135. and has care for his mother, who is depressed by a serious illness and barely retains a few dewdrops of life. But to portray this woman would require a long word; It’s enough to say briefly: she is the mother of Elladius and Eulalia. God did not give you Carterius, but you will make him yours, friend, 140. through goodwill towards your comrades, and this, I say, is Carterius, for whom great glory awaits in heaven, because in spirit he is always elevated above the flesh. Be lenient towards the great Nicomides, if you ever hear about him. He dedicated his mortal life to heaven, 145. was jealous of the ancient sacrifice of the great father Abraham, consecrating to God two children who voluntarily hastened to the sacred sacrifice, and made the marriage good, and tried for the crowns of both married and celibate life, not giving his dusty branches to the earth, but so that, 150. renouncing this life, he would completely move to the mountainous land, his ear (this the most excellent fruit in the circle of husbands and wives, that is, a dear son in the circle of husbands and a daughter in the circle of wives) inscribed in our faces. And I hope that these green branches of the fragrant tree will be worthy of the heavenly winepresses. 155. And if they surpass their parents themselves, then they will also be obliged to their parents. But let us leave this to the hand of the sovereign God, who puts a great end to great hopes. Now the father among his children 160. is like a fast-flying eagle, which, flying next to the chicks, controls the flight of the newly fledged ones, so that they, on still timid wings, follow him along the swells of the air. So he teaches children many lessons of piety. But he finds nothing more useful than his virtue. 165. He dedicated his children to the Word of God and the divine life, instilling goodness in them from a young age, and prepared for them the greatest inheritance - sacred poverty, so that they would not lack this weapon, which would contribute to a successful journey. Such is Nikomides - 170. my glory, the glory of my flock, close to me by blood! Theognius is not among the latter. Standing on earth, he touches the heavenly thrones; he is affectionate, sweet-tongued; the radiance of a benevolent spirit is always visible on his blooming face. 175. He never imitates women and does not impose on himself false embellishments of virtue that diminish its beauty, but God-pleasing fear watches inside the heart, and it is manifest to the only All-Knower of the unseen. Although he entered the field of 180. virtue later than others, in terms of the speed of his feet (which is very wonderful) he was far ahead of those who entered before him. How quickly he tasted wisdom himself and showed his dear children the best lot. And ascending that ladder, which our forefather Jacob, the son of Isaac, 185. saw established from earth to heaven (see Gen. 28:12), ascending in order to see God himself, the highest source of heavenly lights, he has already passed one of the steps, rests on another with his feet, and touches the third with his hand, while his gaze extends further. This is the way for people, and this is how their blood raises 190. I have a noble parent to Christ! Evander has many expensive treasures hidden in his soul; his heart is whiter than a gray-haired head. Who among the sane will forget about Asterius or his brothers - this sacred trinity? 195. They have common wisdom, their common life has united together, and, with a common hope, only flesh separates them. I will keep silent about Philadelphus - my heart, about this noble blood of Macrobius, who of all the sheep of my flock is actually my sheep; about my friend, 200. whom the merciful Christ embraces with great wings, who is not puffed up by the pride that takes possession of everyone. 205. I will keep silent about the high-ranking Rigin, about Leontius, about Iliodor, who possess the high gift of Christ’s wisdom. I will keep silent about others - the bright stars among men of simple character, even unknown to many of the peace lovers, about these venerable members of Christ. For who can number these seals of the Immortal, these flesh-bearing beauties? All of them are servants of the almighty God, 210. and each of them is perfected in a special way of piety. With light feet they trample the earth; These are fine sheep belonging to the gum side; these are the stones of the great church, and Christ binds them together with the all-kind consent of the Spirit. 215. With small sparks of life, they spend their real life in poverty, giving little to the culprit of evil - the womb, pacifying the cruel rebellion of passions within themselves - these black waves erected by the Belial; They set a measure for the word and a measure for silence, they keep in check both laughter, 220. and hearing, and motionless eyes. Without shoes, with unkempt hair, with tears in their eyes, having only a tunic, these earthly dead live in thought in what is above, constantly having before their eyes the great glory of God and the local glory of the souls of the pious. 225. You also honored the virgin women who call the King their Bridegroom, who enters into communication with the purest hearts, and who wait for Christ with watchful eyes, having lit never-drying lamps (Matthew 25:1-13); you honored them, I say, when you recognized this adornment of mine, 230. this is the brightest eye of my flock; honored, if only he honored at least one of them. For this is a common mercy for all good people, if one of them sees the good done to himself; This is the law of friendship, according to which everything becomes common property for them! Truly, these women also have great intelligence, because with a courageous spirit they cast out the seductive Eve from their hearts. 235. Yes, and they have a safe fence around their body - sackcloth, and ashes on the ground; and they have the cures of chastity, prayers, kind sighs, sleepless nights, sources of tears exuding internally. Their knees have become stiff, their weakness has been forgotten, 240. because they cling to the strengthening vestments of Christ’s vestments. But the tenderness of the flesh, and shiny clothes, and this spring, soon fading beauty, both natural and that external that men with their own hands bring to lustful faces - all this is expelled from their hearts. 245. And it won’t be much to say that these women are equal in strength of mind, both in body and in wisdom, to their husbands. For Christ, Who from the starry sky appeared on earth in human flesh and became the Son of Man 250. through the immaculate Virgin Mother, in order to fulfill the law of humanity with His most pure birth, when He rose from the grave on the third day, the wives were the first to see (Matthew 28:1-8), because of their ardent desire, and announced to their beloved fellow disciples, having tasted Christ partaking in the healing of the former. And throughout the whole earth, wherever the saving teaching has penetrated, 255. you will find many wives who either, having formed a society, nourish in their hearts a common love for heavenly life and are led by the same rules, or remain with their weak parents and brothers 260. and have them as witnesses of their chastity. I have few such wives; however, I will argue with many, admiring the heavenly beauties of Christ. The fable strewed the houses of the Lydians with golden sand and gave them a river that brought gifts of happiness, 265. and gold-bearing ants carried wealth to the black Indians, collecting it in the sand. The Nile, flooding the fertile plains in due time, made Egypt powerful. One admires the birds, another admires the trees, 270. and another admires the stones, pleasantly shining from the inside. But King Christ gave me an adornment that is more excellent than all others - this is a crown among many pious ones. What is certain is that God always gives grace to the little ones, as the ancient promise assures. 275. Bethlehem became between the first cities, and my little city was given to be the new Bethlehem. He was famous for the birth of Christ, and mine was famous for his friends. Such a new host will shine before you in my country, similar to what Armenia produced - your fatherland, a country adorned with good sons, surpassing other countries in many ways, 280. so especially glorious because there are many in it who have not known the bonds of marriage! Having shown mercy to them, you will show, most excellent, a small mercy to me, but much greater to yourself; You will acquire for yourself, your children and your wife the greatest wealth - the hope of a most luminous life. 285. If you, the most lenient of all my comrades, remember at all about my ancient friendship (I will not put my name along with the names of pious men), then do not dishonor me (which is not characteristic of friendship), but show mercy and honor to my comrades. 290. And I have some significance for many. And even if it was not for many, then you, lucky one, should respect our friendship above everyone else. By this you will please all your friends, and they will be pleased by the honor done by the monk. 295. You will especially please Vasily, whom Christ especially honored and who, as an intermediary, unites distant friends and binds them much more tightly with a common love. And justice itself requires of you to please him, respect for the fatherland, for friendship, for fellowship in learning, 300. for pure sacrifices, for an inspiring life. For he, like the second after Aaron, standing inside the tabernacle, which is not accessible to everyone, and having before the eyes of God reigning on high, with his prayers brings mortals into communion with the Immortal. But what you do for me will be a gift for Vasily, 305. and what is brought as a gift to him will be offered to Christ himself; what is offered to Christ is offered to the Father. I beg you for souls and for heavenly life, I beg you for members thinned by the spirit. Show mercy to the day's labors, to the night chants, 310. to reclining on the bare ground, to tears, to old rags, to weary eyes, to a pure mind, to sacred words. By honoring virtue, you will expand the path to virtue for many and receive a large reward from God, 315. you will sow something permanent here and reap imperishable, heavenly fruit, instead of meager - rich. Respect the godlike gray hair of my father, who with both, and the number of years 320. and honesty of morals, will fill a whole wonderful story for people. I will tell you, my son, due to the weakness of my strength, the last word. Spare our flock, spare the flock for which I tremble, because I have suffered a lot for it and God has entrusted me with shepherding it for many decades. 325. May God grant you everything that He gives to the pious, but above all else, that you may meet a wonderful old age, such as the old age of my God-wise father. But I will speak a good word from our Scripture. God's measures are equal to our measures; 330. By what we measure to each other here, by what the great God rewards people. But may He reward you with the best for the best, both now and on the last day! Nowadays, for every person, there is either a bad or a good foundation for a short life 335. and the great acquisition of heavenly life fluctuates on small scales, weighed on one side or the other. And Christ took upon Himself humanity at the imposition of taxes, when Caesar took a census of the whole earth (Luke 2:1-2). God Himself gave tribute to mortals to grant mortals 340. relief from slavery. Almost the grace of Christ and have mercy on people. Almost - and by keeping a good census, you yourself will be written down in a good heavenly book. And if you conduct a bad census... let someone else say it, and I will at least say that it is better to conduct a righteous census. 345. Is it really not enough that a heavy yoke was imposed on mortals by the first sin of the ancestor, and by the murderous tree, and by the envy of the serpent, and by the crime of the wife, and by the disastrous taste of conflicting knowledge, which made me mortal and, immediately casting me down into the earth from which I was created, 350. filled my life with sorrows, forced me to bear illnesses and toil, to remain bent to the wide ridge of the earth under the burden of adversity - is this really not enough, but my brother - one dust with me, immersed in the same sin with me, betrays me to even greater sorrows? 355. No, this is impermissible, this is out of character; It is much better to give the sick medicine rather than new labor. This is the gift that our brotherhood sends to you, my good one, - this is a gift that will not be destroyed by time. And you, the adornment of Armenia, Hellenius, who is entrusted 360. with establishing the correct measure of taxes in our country, establish it with the help of the immaculate hand of the great God, establish it immaculately and do not subjugate the corrupt mind of unrighteous self-interest. If you weigh faithfully to everyone, trembling the great Eye, then we, 365. although a small city, will carry your name, the best, not only among the inhabitants of Diocaesarea and write on the boards: “Here is a virtuous man, in him even a scoffer will not find food for himself!” The same prophet flooded the thirsty land with rain, which bound it 118. And another from the waters stole the whole world 119. Some helped in illnesses, others saved them from enemies, others fed great people with food from heaven 120. 5. For you, eminent Julian, God has first placed in your hands the scales of justice, and now the scales for equalizing taxes - steady, undeceiving, faithful, honorable scales. But you, valiant man, spare my poor, spare with your writing those whom illness has exhausted, devouring their poor flesh, spare - 10. and you will be inscribed in the heavenly book. God will reward people with the same measure that we ourselves measure out to people here. Give help to a mortal, because we all have a mortal body. Lazarus is at your door: give him other people's crumbs. 15. And Christ became a man when the tax was imposed. Respect the census contemporary with Christ. Respect your mother, this beggar-nurse, this pious blood. Respect a house that knows how to show kindness to its suffering members. Respect, friend, also my wealth, 20. which I willingly brought as a gift and gave everything to the poor, wanting to become a crusader. The pier is the common property of seafarers, and this part of the property is a common benefit to those in need. Here is my property, and yours was written. Oh, if only we could both receive an equal reward for poverty! May the Tsar write so! 25. The great God has endowed you with many gifts that are given to not many of those living on earth. You come from sacred blood, you have the gift of speech, wealth, property, beautiful appearance, you are knowledgeable in carrying out justice according to Auzonian laws. However, you will glorify yourself most of all 30. if you give God’s hand to these unburied dead. 3. To Vitalian from his sons O my father, whom God gave me here as a god, God uncreated into a created god and incorruptible into a corruptible one, so that those on earth may have honor and glory! 5. For just as King Christ, who rules the world according to His great counsels, is the common Parent and best Shepherd of all, so a father is God for his children. Listen with divine mercy to my excellent word, because it is characteristic of the great God to listen mercifully. God does not despise man for whom He died, whom He resurrected with Himself, and to whom He will come again, 10. He will come to convict everyone on the last day. Why have you set sharp teeth on your children? Why did malicious revenge invade your home? What evil Erinyes drove happiness out of him? Without a doubt, you came from good parents and are not the last 15. among people; and, of course, God takes care of you, Who loves those who love Him and hates the wicked; for such a law was hitherto with God. But I can’t understand why you suffer the disasters that befall God-hating people, and, so to speak, hit yourself with blows? 20. For others, nature has invented unforeseen sorrows of life, both disturbing the human race. No one knows how the great turmoil of a multi-wandering life will end, what pier will shelter my black ship. The boundless sea destroyed another 25. or threw him alive onto dry land, but made the one who was previously prosperous a poor man and a wanderer, having neither cover nor clothing; and what he was carrying with him was all absorbed by the salty moisture. Another fought and fell in the war or fell into the murderous hands of enemies as a prisoner. Another was deprived by the ruler of everything he had, 30. which in one day can make a person both low and happy. The merciless robbers took everything from him in the middle of the day, and from him the cunning thieves stole everything in the dark. For others, a pernicious disease devoured their members. But God has deigned not to disturb your peace of mind by anything 35. that I have counted, and may He continue to look at you with a benevolent eye, protecting both your internal and external well-being! But to you, who do not know any disaster, having given strength, God did not deign to grant one thing, namely, that you help your children, keeping them as the apple of your eyes under well-surrounded eyelids. 40. He did not favor it so that none of those making the voyage of life could say: “I alone escaped all the misfortunes and sorrows of life.” What did you once plan, King Polycrates of Samos? Fearing that happiness was flowing towards you uncontrollably, you threw your beloved ring into the sea, wanting to satisfy your envy. 45. However, you received the ring back, but you did not escape death. But envy has not yet taken any toll from us, therefore it is not at all surprising if it brought some kind of darkness to our house. For, indeed, some kind of darkness or some kind of darkness stands between our children and the most excellent parent. 50. And what singer, skilled in composing chants, will mourn this? You will think that with our suffering we gave the ancients a reason for a fable. Someone 121, having fallen in love with his own image, rushed into the source; he was destroyed by the mirror in which he saw his beautiful appearance. There never was a man who hated his own flesh; however, I also heard 55. that one mother, in a fit of madness, killed her beloved son. She killed him like a wild beast, because her son seemed like a beast; but when she came to her senses, she no longer mourned the beast, but the one killed at the hands of her son. And another mother plunged a sword into her own children because she was irritated by their father’s love for his concubines. 60. And one trapper on the mountains, instead of a swift-footed deer, was torn to pieces by the swift dogs that he loved. Do not allow, parent, to be numbered among these unfortunates by some singer who recalls the atrocities of his parents and sings of the disasters of internecine warfare and enmity between blood. 65. This is what I am afraid of. Although it is my fault, the parent is also guilty. Even the parent is all the more guilty because he surpasses me and my brother in both gray hair and honesty of morals. And even if it is not his fault, then the pitiful disgrace that often brings a good person to earth will fall upon him. 70. For although many know the truth, there are also many who look at people's opinions. I ask you to think about this, parent. No matter how alarmed I may be, however, following the dictates of nature, I wish that my parent would have an advantage in everything and over everyone and, enjoying a good reputation among people, would rise higher and higher. But how can another honor you, 75. parent, as a person who is condescending to the things of others, when you are so angry with the children whom you yourself gave birth to and once asked from the King God, wanting to hold them on your knees, and when we came into the world, you honored them with notorious names? I am Peter, and my brother Phocas 1 bear the names of the disciples of Christ. 80. But then anger, and everything is forgotten. What father, like you, most excellent, was so merciful to his newborn children and so cruel to children who came of age? If it were permissible for a person to enter into competition with God, or children with their parents, then perhaps 85. I would have found some word to alleviate my suffering. And now I will allow my lips to utter only the following: whether we are bad or good with you, father, is from the seed of the ear. Whether I am good or bad is your glory and your shame. And everyone knows that 90. that we must love the good and support the bad, because doctors give medicine not to the healthy, but to those exhausted by illness. It is not the bird that is pitied that sits on a branch or flies through the air, but the one that has fallen from a high nest, 95. or, pierced by the crooked claws of a carnivorous kite, kicks the air with its legs in great pain. And to honor a wicked son with his own bosom is mercy. And if you honor something good, then I see this as a law for the father, because the virtuous are favored by strangers. And Divine mercy does not consist in 100. bringing the good closer to Himself, but in condescending to the bad and, lifting him from the ground, lifting him high. And Christ, when He came to earth and established His man in the Divinity, did not die for those who had not fallen, but for those who fell to the earth and died in Adam. 105. Have you not heard about the youngest son, how he, leaving his father and living fornication, squandered all his father’s property; and when hunger exhausted the wanderer, he returned to his parent’s house and knelt before him; and the father immediately took pity on his worthless son (Luke 15:21–24), 110. wrapped his arms around his neck, shed tears and honored his son with a banquet supper? And the good shepherd of the sheep, when one of them fell behind the flock, left all the others, but followed in the footsteps of the lost one and, as soon as he found her wandering on the mountains or in the forests, 115. took her on his shoulders and joyfully included her among the dozens dear to him (Matthew 18:12-13). This is the great law of my Christ, who, rejecting the arrogant, favors all the lowly. One confession of sin often saved a person, washed away guilt with bitter tears 120. and cleansed the soul blackened by vices. It is not uncommon for the King to propitiate the wicked seven times seven, as I hear in God’s word (Matthew 18:22) and as the Spirit taught me. Who is worse than King Manasseh? Which city is worse than the great city of Nin 122? 125. What is worse than the insatiable hand of a publican? But King Christ had mercy on them when they wept over their sins. But what can we say about Christ? Why mention human love, which nature implanted in parents for their children? And animals love their offspring, 130. if you have heard about lynxes, about wild boars, about a herd of round-eyed oxen, how they tremble for their children and go out to fight with animals and with people who are hostile to them. Is there really such a destructive anger in you that is not found in either people or animals? Tame your angry heart; or you, dear parent, 135. were nourished by the inaccessible cliffs and the sea, and that is why the anger in your heart became harder than adamant. Others, both foreigners and compatriots, both God-fearing people and madmen, receive consolation from your property. 140. Your house serves as a common refuge for all those in need; your meal is more pleasant than the Alcinous grove; there are many friends behind it, there is a lot of food on it, a lot of everything that lives in the air and on the earth and that floats in the waters. And we, not washed, not dressed, numb from the cold, 145. day after day wander here and there through other people’s doors; and there is no relief from our distress. From the very time you became angry with us, parent, no matter how much we wish, we have not seen your face; and what is especially painful is that you often do not refuse this to your slaves, although you are angry with them. We, the unfortunate ones, sit at a meager meal and even, 150. like Lazarus, do not steal small grains from the luxurious table, and do not use what the dogs eat (Luke 16:21). By your grace, many disdain us, but few respect us. Strange thing! The father boasts of the disgrace of his sons, whom one small handful would console in grief. 155. Helpers are worse for both of us than sorrow itself; and others do not even know who we are or whose children they are, for I am ashamed to even announce the parent. Two, however, are well disposed towards us; Do they want to avoid misfortune themselves through this or find relief from their misfortunes, which the evil 160. demon will bring upon them, and hope to atone for their own misfortunes through the misfortunes of others. I will say an even stronger word; just be merciful, parent, give us at least this consolation in suffering - do not reject our word. Towards your other children, parent, you are as supportive as is characteristic of a person who confesses God as his Father. 165. This is not envy; half-born and it is not natural to envy. At home in the towers you raised gentle daughters, taught them handicrafts before getting married, with the help of one noble woman - this Chiron among women - you formed good morals in them, gave them good husbands - eminent people in the civil circle, 170. with a rich hand you separated part of your property for them. And we, whom the same and best mother brought into the world for you - this pious wife, worthy of the admiration of all earth-born, about whom, I imagine, even to this day you, dear parent, often shed tears - we, your firstborn (which is very important for fathers), 175. you drive out of your home and hate as much as you showed your daughters your benevolent heart. I’ll say it, and I wouldn’t want to, it’s true, but I’ll bring the word out so that it doesn’t tear me apart, hidden in my heart. There was a marriage and a wedding supper; everything was full of fun; there were marriage gifts, 180. welcoming speeches, pleasant entertainments. There were many relatives, many neighbors, people of high rank at the royal court decorated the wedding meal, there were also venerable priests who united the couple with their prayers and crowns. 185. Comrades crowded around the beautiful young man and called the groom, likening him to a beautiful summer plant; and the wives dressed the black-eyed maiden for sacred marriage; the father admired the children. And we, as if we were like wild beasts 190. or like boars, or through the action of a cruel demon, had destroyed the human species, we were locked in a house away from our sister, and there we mourned our entry into the sorrowful waters of life. It would be better for me not to be conceived in my mother’s womb or die prematurely in the throes of childbirth! 195. And if I have already entered the gates of life and attracted the fatal spirit into myself, then it would be better if my first cry became a tear of death and I did not encounter such disasters! There was one thing that upset me the most. I, a skilled singer, wanted to glorify the marriage and marriage bed of my sister and with my marriage songs to satisfy my father’s anger, 200. but, the all-destroying demon! and this was not allowed to me, as a person unfit for anything. Another sang of my beauty, this black night, rising from under golden curls on silver cheeks; 205. another glorified my evening star, another magnified my lightning; and some other unkind singer. And I lay silent, despised, covered with a cloud of lamentation; I could not even be the echo that carries the last syllables along the high cliffs when Pan sings shepherd’s songs on the mountains. 210. I will pay for the death of my original chants and will not sing anymore. Goodbye, polyphonic books! Farewell, Muses! What kind of joy is it if my song does not touch the ears of my parents, if some song of Orpheus does not attract stones, animals, or birds on the Odryzian cliffs from afar? 215. Take advantage of this from me, evil envy; let my songs stop! And you, excellent parent, may neither God nor any of your friends reward you for this! But there is another fear that worries me. If you don’t love us, my dear one, then you don’t love your daughters either, although you now carry them in your arms and try to elevate them. 220. You deprived us of our home and kind contemplation, and made them hateful to everyone. For the King of parents, Christ, does not want a father to be favorable towards one, but ill-disposed towards another; and the Son of the Beginning often turns the scales, 225. He transfers His anger from the fathers to the children and burdens the loved ones with misfortunes. But let this fall into the depths of the sea, let it not touch our home, let no new sorrow follow the present sorrows! It is enough that Erinyes is persecuting your older children. But, parent, everyone is irritated against you, both parents 230. and children, because you have an unforgiving heart. For the indignation of the father, who was united with his children by natural union and love, kills life, but is divided by evil enmity. Of course, all those who have done or suffered something worthy of God have great regret in their hearts for us; 235. The priests especially grieve, whom you reward with gifts and honor in your home, but dishonor in absentia, and sometimes to your face, how quickly they turn to you not only with kind advice and not only with a favorable glance, but also with harsh words. 240. Such are, firstly, Gregory, who lives up to his name 123 and preaches with his lips the combined Divinity, and then Bosporius and Amphilochius, who are gifted with a great soul. For them, the painful feeling of illness gives way to prayers, honoring the Trinity and sacrifices; 245. But neither prayers nor sacrifices bend your heart. You do not offer this as a gift to the virtuous martyrs. Although from year to year you indulge them with a rich and innumerable hand, you build altars in their honor, bring gifts, arrange feasts, choirs, 250. offer many cups of sweet drink and soft beds, yet in this you violate God's law. For it is better, by offering a little, to dedicate your heart to God, than to honor Him with all sacrifices, but have a defiled mind. There is no gift that would be worthy of God, although you collect everything that earth, sky and sea bring to people, 255. because it is all God’s. What will a mortal find besides this? One soul is pure sacrifice; and in this, the poor often goes along with and even precedes the abounding in everything. I respect, parent, and this magnanimous intention with which you, by God’s inspiration, placed yourself above many. 260. For pitiful mortals, there is not only one birth, which begins from flesh and blood and according to which people appear on earth and soon disappear. It is true that it is the very first, but then there is also the birth of the pure Spirit, when illumination descends on those washed with water \ 265. But there is also a third birth, which through tears and sorrows cleanses in us the image of God 124, blackened by sin. The first of these births you have from your fathers, the second from God, and in the third you are your own parent and serve as a wonderful luminary for the world, because you dissolved worldly bonds, out of clay 270. you set your foot, avoided the fire that threatens Sodom, from the low plains you took refuge in your beloved Zoar (Gen. 19:22-23), you do not look back at the incinerated cities, you acquired one with all your acquisitions a good pearl, having settled in the desert, having united Christ and his pure mind into one, 275. spread a cloud over the earthly world, from which he himself had renounced, erected a wall between him and himself, stopped the insolence of the womb - this unfillable abyss, despised the high seats that puff up man, cast down the arrogant pride and vanity of arrogance. 280. One glory for you is the great God and the pious, who are dearer to you than blood in the flesh. Everything gave way to the cross to which you nailed the thief, that is, the world. With all-night hymns and daytime chants you glorify the Tri-radiant illumination of the heavenly Spirit. 285. All this is wonderful, parent, and is already close to the most perfect limit; this limit, in my opinion, is intelligible, and not God visible in the mirror. There is only one anger left in you - this pleasant poison for you, and it eats up your soul, like inconspicuous rust - hard iron. Such a misfortune befell you through the malice of the treacherous serpent; 290. Through a small taste, he cast out his first parents from paradise and alienated them from God, from Whom he himself had fallen. But tame your terrible anger, parent! And we have a King Christ, whose favor you yourself need. Be the same father to your foolish children, 295. as you wish to have God with you during sorrows, if you were ever faced with difficult sadness. You are not the only one, parent, who has given birth to people like yourself; you are not the only one who is saddened by disobedient children. It often happened to see that the father was condescending to the gross vices of his unlucky son. Some, not knowing the limits in the game, and others, indulging in harmful drunkenness and shameful love, plundered the house; another went so far as to turn to his father with a reproachful word, and even Erinyes raised his hands. However, the good father abandoned his anger against such children, 305. because the mistress of need did not learn the written laws. And she easily heals parents’ anger towards their sons. There is much that they see, but they do not see, because they do not want to see; Much falls into their ears, but they do not hear, so as not to provoke children to terrible insolence with reproof 310. and drown out shame in them - this good helper to parents. For from insult comes insolence, and from favor comes prudence; especially in children, who have imminent glory in mind, they submit not to the violence of the hand, but to the bonds of persuasion. Like fire in straw, a father’s annoyance with his children does not last long. 315. Anger will ignite the tongue, and pity will extinguish it even before. The tongue has uttered a reproachful word, but the mind is already uttering consolation, offering a hand to support the burden, and itself mourning the grief caused. David, one of the most famous kings in Abraham's descendants, was merciful to everyone, and so lenient towards his children, 320. that he suppressed his anger and annoyance even at the parricides. Here's the proof! When someone who rebelled against the king in a shady forest died from a twig and a mule, David not only tearfully mourned him as a good son (2 Sam. 18:33), but punished him as a murderer who had announced death. 325. And you, carried away by bad advice, have you seen or suffered anything bad from us, and do you harbor indomitable anger in your heart? We did not take away your paternal power, sir, nor did we steal any ears of corn from your field, nor oxen, or sheep, or horses from your herds; 330. We did not reach such madness as to desecrate your bed (this is hateful!) or enter into insidious plans with people who are hostile to you. If the father is angry for something like this, there is nothing to say on the contrary; but there is one flaw in your sons: we turned out to be worse than you, the most perfect parent, and you are not inferior to anyone 335. either in appearance or in greatness. Our word does not flow freely and there are bonds on our tongue. Either we made a mistake in this, or you, the best, did not want to give children the most perfect nature. Let's end the word here. King Father and Most High Son, lend your hand and deign to make my parent merciful to me! 340. Here we touch your beard, parent, we hug your knees, like God’s; let us see your face as God’s. We do not ask you for marriage, not decent wealth, not a high house: just give me your hand and look favorably. And you, my mother, who, as I saw in a dream, 345. and my father, appearing in sleepy visions, quench his anger with your prayers, remind him of your love and consensual marriage! Ask your spouse to be merciful to your children. There is a measure in the enjoyment of singing, and there is a measure in cruel warfare. And if I have convinced you, parent, then the disasters we have suffered are enough for us. And if you do not listen to me, 350. then even children have God. We will wander as before. Your glory will suffer if we remain undesired, if we die. Oh, if only after our death the tears of a benevolent father were shed for us! 4. From Nikovul the son to his father 125 If you gave birth to me, father, it is not a great deed. For for everyone, both for people, and equally for the dumb, one law has been laid down from the beginning - to submit to love. According to the will of the wise Word, both those who are born and those who give birth must drag out a one-day life, 5. and when dying, continue it in their growth. But you, having given birth, fed me! However, even a strong cow’s galloping calf rests its head on her teats, and she endures this anxiety out of sweet necessity. And the bird above the cute nest 10. around the fledgling chicks does not give its wings rest, this skinny nurse who has not eaten for a long time flutters here and there for food. Nature bound both parents and children with bonds of love, finding that medicine for parents that they ease heavy sorrows with the delight of love. 15. Therefore, the angry mother for the young heifer, and the dog for her dear puppies, and the bird for her chicks declare a terrible war; a motley lynx rushes furiously out of a thicket of trees; a strong boar goes berserk: his bristles stand up in the forest, his eyes sparkle, steam pours out from his teeth, sharply 20. one against the other, and his jaws spray with foam when he goes to avenge the children or meet death. This inspires them with ardent love according to unlearned laws. Wasps, sitting on stones, as soon as they see that someone is approaching, although he did not intend harm to their newborn children, 25. the whole militia suddenly pours out of the stones, makes a noise in front of the traveler’s face and strikes him with merciless stings. And in the depths of the sea there is a law of love, if what is told about the dolphin, this king of the inhabitants of the sea, is true. 30. If some sea animal approaches its offspring, which have not yet strengthened in strength, the dolphin expands its mouth and, devouring its own offspring like food, hides it in its insides so as not to give it to the beast as prey, and until then it does not spew out this incredible burden until it has escaped the terrible threat of a powerful enemy, then only without the pain of birth it returns its fetus from the womb. 35. Therefore, kindest parent, do not tell me about the birth, nor about the small amount of food that you give to your slaves and your oxen. I, as a person, as the son of a good father, wish to have something extra in front of them. Forgive me if I don’t hide it, but I say some offensive word. 40. It was not by my will that you gave birth to me and, having given birth, you nurtured me out of necessity. And if, having given birth, you left one in the world, it would mean that you gave birth to a mortal in the place of a mortal. I do not desire gold, nor silver, nor silk threads, nor the shine that shimmers inside precious stones, nor a large area of ​​\u200b\u200bgood land, 45. rolling like the plains of Egypt, nor many slaves, nor four-legged animals. I leave it to others to take care of a noble marriage, to bring a mistress into the house - this is an honorable burden; let others covet the throne, which, trampling on the few, is itself trampled upon by many, and often by bad people, which most outrages the heart. 50. Everyone boasts of something of their own, but we are all low, we have nothing sure for tomorrow, we crave fun that is alien to us and flies by instantly. Perish everything that the whirlwind of bitter life brings, with which here and there the ashes that are unfaithful to everyone swirl! 55. I saw all this with my weak mind, and I heard the same from the wise, and time, which everyone calls the teacher of one-day-old creatures, will bring me even more information. In return for everything, now, parent, I wish for one thing, namely, to be strong in words. The fiery power of eloquence in popular speeches, 60. judicial and commendable, is wonderful, but it is also wonderful to have a mind enriched with history, because history is the storehouse of wisdom, the mind of many. But grammar is also important, which perfectly contributes to the noble language of Hellas, smoothing out the word and softening the barbaric sounds. 65. Also important are the competitions of logical art, which at first obscure the truth until, through a possible transformation of the concept, they present it in full light. Also important is the science through which accomplished men form good morals in a person, like cottage cheese that takes the form of a wicker vessel. It is also important that wise men, with a soaring mind, through ingenious research, 70. each surveying his own area, discovered in the depths and committed them to books. They understood the nature of things, both air and earth, and sea and heaven, and above all they comprehended the thought of the ineffable God, they comprehended how God rules the universe, where he leads it and what the end is for 75. a whole world full of many beauties. They have studied and understood what is beyond the understanding of mortals. But, having studied this in my youth, I will surrender my thought to the Divine Spirit, I will seek traces of hidden beauties, constantly ascend to the light 80. and I will accept Divine suggestions as the standard of life, so that, having Christ as my assistant, and companion, and leader, with light hopes I will ascend from here, be honored with a pure and unceasing life, not from afar, 85. as if in a mirror. and in the water, to see faint images of truth, but to contemplate with pure eyes the truth itself, in which the first and last is the Trinity, the one-honored Divinity, the one Light in three equally Divine Radiances. Look at my great maternal grandfather: 90. adorned with diverse information about everything, collected from all over the earth during his stay among many nations, he made Christ and the high life the last key of his teaching, to which I, the parent, extend my gaze. And although they have not yet reached such a height, it is common for a prudent person to measure his life 95. by great measures. It is better to be second among the great than first among the poor, just as it is better to fly lower than a high-flying eagle than to cut through the air higher than moths hovering on the ground. This is what I wish, parent; fulfill my hope. 100. I beg you and touch your beard. I beg you, let us take advantage of the time, which we can seize while it is approaching, and which we will seek in vain when it passes. There is a time for planting a garden, a time for cultivating the land, a time for loosening the ropes of seaworthy ships, 105. a time for trappers to catch animals on the mountains, a time for war. Flowers will be born in spring. Likewise, people have a decent time to learn, when fiery love warms the soul, when the insides of the heart have not yet been furrowed with diverse designs, 110. but only newly written beauties adorn it. The young man puts both the good and bad roots of life into the ground for himself. This is especially important and must be taken into account. Am I convinced? Or should I add an even more convincing word to what has been said? I highly value your eloquence, parent, in which you are excellent, 115. because your tongue, hearing, and quick thought do not lag behind each other, whether you follow the laws of unmeasured or measured speech, and, which is the height of the miracle, all this happens to you without much effort. I know that you stood before great kings and gained honors with the brave when you were in their ranks, 120. when you struck down the Achaemenids 126 with your swift spear. I know that you are exalted in wealth, and family, and intelligence, that in appearance and greatness you were likened to the ancient Aeacides or the Aetolian Meleager. But most of all, your eloquence glorified you; 125. It has acquired for you firm, unshakable, ageless, unchanging, and continually increasing glory over the years. And I wish to have my father’s heritage: it is for me the same as the spear was for the Spartans, for the Pelops descendants - the Pelops shoulder, for the kings - the scepter 130. and for the indigenous Cecropids 127 - a grasshopper woven into the hair, like a son of the earth. And to resemble one’s father in appearance constitutes glory. Respect my wish, it is innocent. And I saw that some parents gave in to the bad desires of their children, as a doctor of illness 135. mixes the pleasant with the useful, in order to embellish the healing with pleasantness and drive out a greater evil - an illness with a lesser evil. I have seen that someone, even one who is not familiar with wisdom, often agrees to the request of a son who wants to study, and, to please his generation, yields to his good desires, although they are alien to himself. 140. And I ask you, parent, to yield and give your hand to your son, who desires the most excellent. But if I began to have fun with the bad, exclude me from among your children, like a son who is found illegitimate by testing in the waters of the noble Rhine, or like a chick, which a ray of sunshine shows not to be a real offspring of pure eagles. 145. Show, most excellent one, mercy, which will be as much mercy to the son as to the father, because from the son it will again pass on to the parent. For the glory of children is credited to the honor of the parents, just as the glory of the parents is credited to the honor of the children. And their reward is common, and their dishonor is common. 150. Others, out of frivolity, fell in love with incessant dancing, murderous struggles with people and destructive beasts, and spent their entire lives in the fields in order to gain favor with their fellow citizens and dispute with others the glory that would not thunder for long in the mouths of the people. Others have exhausted both life and wealth on the wrestlers, 155. who exhaust themselves in vain on the sandy field, and on the riders, who, in view of the spectators divided into parts and on both sides shaking the air with exclamations, are eager to surpass each other with unreason. Others seek a variety of entertainment in the disgrace of husbands and wives, in fake slaps in the face of jesters, 160. who, instead of screams, utter loud laughter from their open mouths. Such are the occupations of these madmen; So they, jokingly, spend an idle life! What they learn is what they teach others. And their only reward for evil deeds is not a sharp sword, but benefits and wealth, because they serve their passions. 165. And among the foolish, it is not difficult for the most malicious to gain the upper hand. This is what these people do, and what they have acquired badly, they waste worse. However, a righteous judgment awaits them. May God grant you what you desire, as a most virtuous person, that is, to give a helping hand to children and to show kindness to everyone who needs it. 170. But give to others what is unnecessary, and give me what makes a person happy. I don’t wish for much, but to become worthy of much and not fall too far behind my parents. What a pleasure it is to have a monkey at home - this is an outrage in human form, decorated with golden loops? 175. The outfit does not change the funny and stupid appearance. What joy is it for a donkey to wear talents of gold? The donkey, although hung with gold, does not stop crying like a donkey. What is the use of hiding a lead sword that is useless for combatants in a silver scabbard? 180. And such is a person who is exalted by his appearance alone. In conclusion, listen to the following, and let God be a witness to what is said; for God is also the Word who reigns over mortals. On my part, parent, there will be talents, character, tireless work and constant copulation of days and nights; 185. Let everything else come from you: God, and time, and the best hope, and the advice of comrades, constantly encouraging to do good. For the ax gives great strength to the woodcutter. Do not be afraid of the sea or the long journey; Do not spare either property or anything else 190. that can contribute to the acquisition of high virtue. I will boast that I am more valuable to you than a large estate, because I am your firstborn and the first to be named by my father’s name, if this, as I think, has any benefit for my parents. But if you are possessed by the love of property, or if your love for your son is more 195. like a woman’s, a mother’s, like a fire that suddenly ignites straw and immediately goes out, then in that case, reluctantly, it’s true, but forced by you to do this, I will say that in no way will I attribute to you, parent, the name of a child-loving father. On the contrary, my father, be for your son not a man, but a God. 200. Do not block the source, which is ready to produce a great river, do not let the light in the lamp dim from a lack of oil; Don’t let the plant dry out because it doesn’t get enough dew-bearing moisture. Open the spring, keep the light flowing, and water the sprouting plant. And you, my mother, help my requests, 205. so that I have something to thank you both for and call the parents not only of my earthly composition (as others say, noting that parents care only about the flesh), but also of my immortal soul. 5. From Nikovul the father to the son Wanting to be strong in words, you, my son, desire beautiful things. And I myself delight in the word that King Christ gave to people, as the light of life, as the preeminent of the gifts sent down to us from the heavenly circle; because He Himself, 5. exalted by many names, is not pleased with any so much as by the name “Word.” But listen to my speech. Fatherly advice is the best, and gray hair has an advantage over youth. Time gave birth to history, and history gave birth to high-flying wisdom. 10. Therefore respect my words; it's better for you. In everything else, my son, be superior to your father. A father rejoices when a good son takes advantage of him, and rejoices more than when he himself is superior to everyone else. This is in accordance with the Divine laws with which the great Father bound the universe and, out of love for His property, 15. unshakably established it with the Word. But I wish, son, that you retain your father’s quality in yourself - have more modesty than you now show it in front of your parents. And I was the son of a good father, but such a word never came out of my mouth, I didn’t even have anything like that on my tongue, 20. because such speech does not please God. “If you gave birth to me, father, it is not a great deed. For you brought me into the world, pleasing not me, but your lust and your flesh. And then he fed me! Well? He nourished whom he gave birth to.” What an ungrateful word, destructive to the world, insulting to the great Birth! 25. Nature has bound parents and children together with mutual love, so that the labor that the born requires does not tire the parents, and so that we do not give birth to death, leaving those born without care. Therefore, as you rightly said, parents are waging a terrible war for their children, not sparing their lives. 30. This is what wasps, lynxes, oxen, boars, fish, birds, and above all the human race do. If we do not obey these laws, our whole life will be in vain. But who will embrace the son, who will wish him the best, who will give his consent when he wants to study or desires something else, 35. who will separate him the proper part of the property, if everything that the son receives from his father is a duty, not mercy, and if the son, having received nothing, can violate the law of shame, and having received, he has the right to have both a tongue and an ungrateful mind? Be careful that another reasonable person does not object to you: 40. We are not only a human race, but also God’s, and God’s before humanity. Fathers for children are only secondary instruments of birth from Christ the great God. Christ took the earth, but gave it intelligence and produced a single race, mixed from both, produced an earthly king, 45. who is body when he is wise, and is numbered with the gods when he is pious, who is torn here and there by many disasters, so that in the face of a greater number of evils we may have an invincible heart. But no one has ever lost common sense to such an extent and been carried away by the ebullience of young blood, 50. so that such an evil word would come out of his god-fighting lips: “You did not create me according to my desire. And when he created it, it’s no wonder that he honored it. If, having created, you leave me, this means that you created a mortal in the place of a mortal. Give me wisdom, give me wealth, because You have given it to many; give greatness and beauty, primacy in cities, 55. a sword that destroys everything, a strength of body that is not inferior to disease, and everything else by which people measure great happiness. Otherwise I will not honor You with sacrifices or vows. For You did not show me a benefit when you bound soul and body in me, but You Yourself, desiring glory, brought me into existence, like everything else, 60. so that Your name, O Blessed One, would be glorified among those on earth.” But we will leave such speeches to people who hate God and are unreasonable, who, having become slaves to the author of evil, consider wealth to be God. And for everything, both for good and for disaster, we will sing songs to the great God, which is characteristic of sons worthy of love. 65. After the first King, I will also glorify my earthly parents, who illuminated me with light, through whom the united Trinity shone in my heart and was revealed to everyone. I will keep silent about the great circle of the world, about the wide sky in which two bright eyes shine, about the ridge of the sea (which is wonderful to me) 70. both pouring and not pouring out of its limits, and finally about the earth, about the flow of rivers, about the air we breathe, about the seasons, about the pleasantness of flowers, about the nature of man and birds, about everything that God has offered to my eyes for a meal. My father passed all this on to me from the great Father. 75. Therefore, this is not what you should reward your parent for, not courage, because courage, when it goes beyond its limits, becomes insolence. Otherwise, some more irritable father on my behalf will say to you a word similar to the following: “If nature took care of children, investing parents with love for them, 80. then nature forbade loving those who do not love.” It is better to endure bad things from your father than to see good things from someone else. And it is best for a person to look only from the hands of his father. And if the father is poor, weak in mind, weak in body, what will you do? Won't you replace the staff with your hand? 85. Won’t you also take me on your shoulders and carry me out of the city, just as the son of Anchises carried his parent away from his enemies? Or will you say: “Why did you bring me into the world? And why do you require my services?” Give voice to the fish and birds of the air, to everything that breathes and reptiles on the earth. 90. The dolphin will not say: “Why did You, O King, create me the son of the sea? I would not like to lead a constantly wandering life in the salty moisture, inhaling the humid and seeing the darkened air. I would rather work like an ox, graze on the mountains, have broad shoulders, like a fleet-footed horse, lead life together with a person, 95. rather than reign over all the fish that glide through the waters.” Oxen are not tormented by the desire to walk on the seas. And the evil snake, bending with effort on its belly, will not say: “Why did you make me gnaw the dust on the ground? I would like to walk upright, but You have determined for me to crawl on my belly.” 100. The raven will not want to fly like eagles and exchange its appearance with the king of the birds. But everyone loves the path of life that is assigned to him. And a meager work will never say to the meager: “Why are you mercilessly cracking your hard wheel over me?” 105. I told you all this, dear son, to teach your mind submissiveness, to force you to weigh your words on the scales and not give them freedom, to cut off everything unnecessary, to limit yourself to what is sufficient, not to indulge in the flow of youth, but to hold back its impetuosity. When you speak, it is much better to hide a lot 110. in yourself than to let some indecent word fly into the air. There is no harm if the word remains unspoken; This is not a spawn of vipers, it will not rip through the womb and will not bite the mother in revenge for the destructive father. Now I will intimidate your love with my word 115. and with parental condescension I will scatter filial insolence into thin air. There is more than one path of life, my son, because not everyone’s nature is the same. For some it is good, for others it is worse and more similar to the nature of dumb people, and for others it is again some kind of mixture of both good and bad; 120. Just as a farmer of three types finds land: either fruitful, or barren, or one that grows thorns along with wheat. There are three paths and three goals. One path is low, pierced by the footprints of many, wide, soft, but leads to a pitiful end, 125. to rapids, to dark abysses, to a terrible Tartarus, where there are rivers of fire, the execution of lost souls and incessant torment. The other path is not smooth, steep, dry, cramped, radiating, surrounded on both sides by rapids 130. and few passable, but it leads to a good end, to the starry sky, to great glory, ethereal beauties, to the purest, unclouded good truth, and even to the highest Light that has no limits. The third path lies in the middle between the first; he is average in reward; 135. not very difficult and brings very little glory - it is light merging with black night, such a mixture that the wise call darkness. All those with depraved minds, liars, murderers, adulterers, perjurers, 140. androgynes, parricides, predators, gluttons, who are like unfilled seas, live by death, love their own destruction, follow the convenient path. One can wish such a life on one's enemies. The good path is followed by those whose life is not on earth: 145. These are triblessed people who live in the flesh above the flesh, and are not bound by marriage; these are despisers of the world, celestial, non-acquisitive, unicorns; they cry, sleep on the bare ground, barely catch their breath, do not fulfill the demands of the womb, have no shelter over themselves, in one thing they give glory - to count all the glory here as nothing, 150. both wealth and poverty, but look to the one God. Before them I bow down, I fear and tremble at them, as God reigning in the heavens, when He approaches men. For they have all risen far above mortals. And we follow the middle path: we do not delight in 155. vices, but we barely touch the divine; We care about our spouse, about the coveted fame, about children, about property; Everything that comes into our hands is precious to us. Of course, the most important thing in this life for me is the word; for those who have this gift, it is unsquandered wealth, unstolen, good acquisition, 160. although I have not yet experienced everything as I would like, I have not yet sailed at full sail of a whole sea of ​​sciences. I do not believe your words, and your praises will not captivate me, because any praise from a relative is incorrect. However, above all else, I respect you, O glory of eloquence! 165. For the gift of speech serves as the foundation of my life; by it I am distinguished from beasts, I erected cities, invented laws, I sing praises to the great-glorious God, I extol bright virtue to the skies, I tame the power of terrible sin, which is disastrous for me, 170. I separate the worlds, the heavenly world and this world, going to destruction, I distinguish between soul and body, as an image and what is depicted, as qualities of a twofold kind of life and a twofold end to the life of the living and the perishing. God taught me this, the word of the wise strengthened me in this, faith confirmed me in this, providing written proof, 175. how in the last days the virtues of the good will be glorified, and the ignominy of the wicked will be inscribed on the immortal pillars. To be strong in words is not a meager life for those who live alone, and for those who desire fame a glorious crown, 180. not like spring flowers, plucked in the morning and withering before the day ends. To be strong in words is a great cure for passions; In this way I subdue the boiling anger - this is a clouding of the mind, in this way I lull sorrow 185. and set the measure of joy, not being too distressed in difficult circumstances and not being puffed up by well-being, but using one to help against the other, that is, hope against sorrow and fear against prosperity. The gift of speech guides kings, and attracts people, flourishes in public assemblies, 190. reigns at feasts, calms battles, makes a person meek, softening everyone with gentle and affectionate speeches, no matter how stubborn someone may be, just as the power of fire softens iron. I think that Orpheus’s harp was nothing more than a gift of speech, captivating everyone with the pleasantness of its sounds, both good and bad; 195. And Amphion’s lyre also made stones submissive, that is, stubborn and stony hearts. I also mean the gift of speech by the medicine that his companion gave to Laertes’ son when he went to Circe, so that he could help his comrades who had been turned into pigs, and would not himself have to come to the need to eat pig feed. 200. I also see the gift of speech in what Fon’s wife, the Egyptian Polydamna, dissolved and gave to Elena as a good gift - carelessness, non-anger and oblivion of all disasters. And another, more than once, by the grace of God, getting rid of disastrous warfare and the fierce waves of the sea, saved this one coveted acquisition and enjoyed it more than the other with numerous benefits. 205. For the gift of speech makes a person respectable among people, as you can conclude from the example of Odysseus. Without clothes, with broken limbs and a distressed wanderer, he escaped from the sea, 210. but as soon as he expressed his request in an intelligent speech, the princess and the maiden respected him and presented him to the Phaeacians and King Alcinous as a shipwrecked foreigner, deserving preference over all others. 215. The gift of speech also prevailed over envy, which looks at many with evil eyes, because envy loves to attack not the perfect, but those who suddenly became proud. O gift of speech, in order to praise you, a special gift is required! And how I wish that my word was equal to your good broadcasts! But I grasped one thing, found another beyond my strength, 220. Another was suggested to me by the language of my dear son, expressing the hasty desires of his gray-haired, adorned youth, which excites my heart even more. Relying on your own and your parents’ prayers, you, diligently, steadily and with the best hopes, strive, son, wherever you want; May you have the same good companion that your father had. 225. For God’s eye also looks upon our lives. Did the Attic nightingale delight you, or the famous city of pleasant Phenicia 128 - the abode of Auzonian laws, or the great city of Alexander 129, from where others, having loaded their ships with great wealth, hasten to their fatherland, 230. - let every country flow quickly under your hasty footsteps and grow beautiful flowers under them; may the rivers rustle welcomingly before you, and may every sea, with the light breaths of the winds, bring your ship to the harbour; the dolphin, in the light waves of the barely rippling sea surface, twisting its ridge in serpentine circles, 235. may it gallop through the waters, becoming the guide of your life, as it once carried the famous singer on its ridge. For the very mentors, may you be an eye of eloquence; May they consider my son among the first and love him equally with their children. 240. And may your greedy mind exhaust the sweet cup of science to the very bottom. Let your hand write golden letters on flexible tablets, and let honey drip from your scroll. And if in the spring, 245. when the breath of the winds is so delightful for a person or when the sun casts fiery rays from above, sitting under the tree branches and deep in thought, you work on a composition, then let the chirping grasshoppers and singing birds impart vigor to your bodily forces 250. with their sweet-sounding songs, challenging you to a competition in chants. But like a fleet-footed horse, hot by nature, with these beloved sounds I will make you even faster in running and even more thirsty for a great victory, or I will act like an elderly wrestler, 255. who in the field of Pisa gives reasonable orders to famous wrestlers. For I wish to see my son in this field with an olive branch. And as you command, I will not spare anything, neither property, nor labor to which parents are obliged, nor anything else that helps mortals to acquire great virtues, 260. because prudent poverty is better than vicious wealth. Not blocking the source that contains the great river; the light in the lamp will not be dimmed for lack of oil, and the industry will grow, watered by fresh waters. Let the next song be a parting word for you from me. 265. Have Christ the Word as your leader, both in your word and in your life, Who is above all words. Do not make friends with a vicious and worthless person: the infection penetrates even strong members. You will not communicate your virtue to your friend, and the shame of his life will fall on you. 270. Choose chastity as your companion and have fun with it alone, so that criminal love does not drive virtuous love out of you. Prefer one thing to excellence in words - the wise skill of always being perfect. When you have filled your lofty mind with everything you desire and begin to return home, 275. may your leader, visible to everyone, be the same one who even now, when you leave home, accompanies you on the road. May your kindness and your good name be your reward to your parents. I wish this for you, dear son. And if you want to go further than Hades, then let God be your leader there too. There is nothing incredible in the fact that a wise person constantly explores the depths of science 280. under the guidance of perfect men, like the one you have chosen from our blood, I say, there is nothing incredible, son, that such a person will reach the end of the highest good. I am sending you, my daughter, this kind gift; I am sending, Gregory; and fatherly advice is the best. It is not gold mixed with precious stones that adorns women, the Olympics. 5. Without covering the royal face with blush - this disgrace you like, do not bring another destructive image to your image. Give scarlet, golden, shiny, speckled clothes to others who are not adorned with a bright life. And you take care of chastity, of beauty worthy of surprise 10. for inner eyes. Good morals are the best color in a woman who has a beauty that is lasting, unchangeable, and worthy of praise. First, honor God, and then your spouse - the eye of your life, the director of your intentions. Love him alone, make your heart happy, 15. and the more, the more tender the love he has for you; under the bonds of unanimity maintain an inseparable affection. Allow yourself not the kind of freedom that your husband’s love forces you to take, but whatever is appropriate, because satiety is possible in everything. But although there is satiety in everything, it is better to have such love that does not know it. 20. Having been born a woman, do not assume to yourself the importance inherent in a man, and do not be proud of your birth, do not be puffed up in clothes or wisdom. Your wisdom is to obey the laws of marriage, because the knot of marriage makes everything common between the wife and her husband. When your husband is irritated, give in to him, and when he is tired, help 25. with gentle words and kind advice. And the lion tamer does not by force pacify the enraged beast, whose breathing is interrupted in rage, but tames it by stroking it with his hand and saying kind words. 30. No matter how irritated you are, never reproach your spouse for the damage you have suffered, because he himself is your best asset. Do not reproach him because the end of the matter is contrary to his enterprise. This would be unfair, because through the tricks of the demon, even prudent undertakings often do not achieve their goal. 35. Do not reproach him for lack of strength either, because there is always strength in the sword. Whom your husband does not love, do not praise him with the cunning intention of inconspicuously hurting your husband with a word. For noble husbands and wives, and especially for wives, and in any other case, simplicity of heart is appropriate. Consider your husband’s joys and sorrows to be common to you as well. Let your worries be common, because through this the house grows. 40. And your advice may take place, but the husband must prevail. When your husband grieves, grieve with him a little (the lament of friends serves as a pleasant medicine in sadness), but soon afterwards, putting on a bright face, dispel his sad thoughts, because for a lamenting husband the most reliable haven is his wife. 45. Let your occupation be spinning, wool and teaching in God's word, but leave the care of external affairs to your husband. Do not often go outside the doors of the house, to places of public entertainment and indecent gatherings: there, too, shame is stolen from the bashful, there glances are confused with gazes, 50. and the loss of shame is the beginning of all vices. And I command you to go to good meetings with those who are prudent, so that some good word will be imprinted on your mind, which would either eradicate vice in you, or bind you more firmly to virtue. Your home is for you both the city and the groves. Do not allow yourself to be seen by strangers, 55. except chaste relatives or a priest and gray hair, which is better for you than youth. Don't appear to women who carry their heads high and act openly. Don’t even seem to pious men, even if you have a lot of respect for them, that your husband doesn’t want to have them in his home. 60. For who will bring you as much benefit as a good spouse, if you love him alone? Be arrogant, but not arrogant. I praise women whom men don’t even know. Do not rush to a wedding or birthday feast, where there is drunkenness, dancing, laughter 65. and uncharming charm. This leads to relaxation and chastity, just as a sunbeam melts wax. And at home, whether in the presence of a supportive spouse or in his absence, do not drink at home. If moderation is given to the womb, then perhaps you will prevail over passions. 70. I am afraid of the incontinent womb, and so is your husband. There should be no lustful movements or angry tremblings on your cheeks. This is shameful for every person, especially for a woman, and makes the face ugly. Decorate your ears not with pearls, but with the habit of listening to good speeches, 75. and for bad speeches, close them with the key of the mind. And let your open and closed ears be chaste listeners. Let virginal modesty in the presence of your husband spread a pure blush under your eyelids. Blush when others look at you; and try not to look at anyone and lower your eyebrows to the ground. If your tongue is not curbed, you will always be hated by your husband. 80. An insolent tongue often caused harm to the innocent. It is better to remain silent when the matter itself calls for a word, than to speak when the time does not allow room for an immodest word. Let your word remain an object of desire. The legs of a greyhound are 85. unreliable witnesses of chastity, and there is something insolent in the gait itself. Listen to this too: do not indulge in indomitable carnal love, do not seek the pleasures of the marital bed at all times; convince your spouse to show respect for the holy days, because it is characteristic of the image of the great God to obey the laws, 90. although the incorporeal Son Himself gave our race the marriage law, providing the creation of His hand with that help, that when some go away and others come, a generation lasts, and the changing human race is likened to a river, which does not stand still due to the prevailing death and is always full due to new births. 95. But why should I talk in detail about everything? I can give you, my dear, advice, but it’s much better, you have Theodosia - this Chiron between married women. 100. She is for you a living example of every word and deed; She took you from your father and formed good morals in you. This is the half-sister of the impeccable bishop, Amphilochius, the thunderous messenger of truth, my adornment, whom, together with the immaculate Thekla, I escorted to God. 105. And if you have received some highly wise word from my gray hair, then I command you to keep it in the secrets of your heart. By doing this you will gain favor from your husband, the good ruler of the city; and if he began to boast, you would surpass him in glory. Here is my gift to you! And if you need a better gift, then I wish you to become a fruitful field for your children, 110. so that a large number of people will sing songs to the great God, for whom we are born into the world and to whom it is now law for us to march. Nemesius, eye of justice and eloquence, you who were formerly famous among the king for being able to give great power to the ancient and Auzonian laws, at the altars of justice denouncing an unjust deed with your own words of the enemy, 5. and finally you shine in the high place of the ruler of the God-loving Cappadocians, showing them the rudiments of your jurisprudence! Others would extol your glory in verse and loud chants, pouring out from their lips that fiery eloquence that is characteristic of you, in which you left everyone far behind you, because if anyone wanted to describe in detail your virtues, they, like the stream of a great river divided into many branches, 10. would constitute a sufficient subject for many speeches; others, depicting your face with a chisel or casting in a crucible of copper, O man, abundant in words, would place the silent Nemesis in the city squares, 15. in order to glorify their cities, because the very image of a good ruler, visible to posterity, brings glory to cities. And the great God made me a leader of heavenly and earthly things; I have a mind of 20. with the illumination of the great Spirit, exploring the very depths, soars above everything; and therefore I will say that it is only fitting to say to the priestly, loud messenger of truth, the disciple of those who did not rely on the firmness of arguments, were not puffed up by the power of wealth, but, not being hitherto glorious, caught the world in the coveted realms of God, 25. so that everyone would recognize that the power of God the Word acted through them. But you too deign to pay attention to my song; For a long time you have delighted your ears with pleasant but vain chants, in which, like those of adulterous women, the attractiveness is fake; 30. Now incline your ears for a moment to my words, in which the unfading and unchanging beauty is a thought that illuminates pure eyes with a clear light. For if Christ from above had wounded and pierced your heart with His life-giving arrow, 35. then, having carefully examined this and that love, you would have known how pleasantly the sting of the Tsar’s arrow strikes. My gray head and bent limbs were already bowing towards the evening of a painful life. My heart encountered many sorrows, 40. and between them there were many short-term pleasures; but I have not yet seen a glory that would be higher and stronger than the glory of approaching the Divinity of the heavenly God. One glory was pleasant for me - to acquire the knowledge that the East and the West, and the beauty of Hellas - Athens, had collected; 45. I worked on this a lot and for a long time. But I cast all this knowledge down and laid it at the feet of Christ; they yielded to the Word of the great God, which eclipses with itself every convolution and varied word of the human mind, just as the lofty sun eclipses the other stars. 50. Therefore, respect my words, it will be better for you too. Man, who is God's creation, a beautiful and incorruptible image of the heavenly Word, who is spiritual, capable of spiritual knowledge and exalted, - I say, it is not permissible and not characteristic of man, contrary to justice, to bow before vain idols, before insignificant images 55. made of perishable matter of fish, earthly animals and birds of the air - before these works of human hand, perishing from rust and moth - works from substances of which one some are celebrated, while others are cast down with contempt. He should not worship the heavenly bodies, which, with all their great beauty, are not gods, but the works of God the Creator; 60. should not worship either the moon, or the sun, or the stars - these decorations of the sky, or the sky itself - this immense rotating body, adorned with many inner beauties, this silently broadcasting and at the same time loud-voiced preacher of that art, 65. which established and harmoniously connected this universe, so that man in the visible could comprehend the invisible. For whoever sees a magnificent house imagines the one who built the house; and the ship is a silent herald of the ship's builder. And you, the worker of the gods, the father of the new celestials, 70. you kneel with hateful honors even before the powerless demons, calling them evil and good, while they are all evil, hostile to good creatures, envious, loveless, ferocious, delighting in the flesh and fat of victims, mired in uncleanness. After long-term dominion on earth, 75. Christ, the Word of the great God, drove them out with His honest blood, when the irresistible God appeared in human form. He stopped the criminal bloodshed and showed us an intelligent sacrifice, hitherto hidden and revealed to 80. a few. And don’t be surprised at this! Often I, Christ’s treasure, barely uttered the venerable Name, when the demon noisily ran far away, grieving and confessing the power of Him who reigns on high. The same thing happened when I described in the air the apparently disappearing sign of the Great Cross. And such an image was made a victorious monument, 85. like the hands of the great Moses of old. I would like to climb to the top of a high tower and thunder out loud to all the inhabitants of the earth: “Mortal men! Builders of something that does not exist! How long will you 90. be deceived and deceived by false, visible dreams and wander the earth without a goal? Wise servants of idols! You have planned to appoint obscene gods, liars, murderers, obstinates, oathbreakers, predators, androgynes, adulterers, homosexuals as patrons of your passions. 95. Look into how many species the very first of them 130 turned into to satisfy his debauchery. He was an ox, a swan, gold, a snake, a husband, a bear; took upon himself whatever form was required by the weak child - the impatient Eros, as the creators of these powerless gods themselves assure. But this is not enough; You honor your own passions with sacrifices, 100. and for each vice you have a special intercessor, so that every sin not only remains unpunished, but is even considered a good deed, because he who honors it pleases God. Consider another horde of notorious helpers - these horned ififals, having no neck, up to half the body of snakes, animal-like, combining the members of various 105. animals, worthy of the laughter of monsters! Oh, if only they could see such children as they honor the gods! Oh, if only they became the same helpers for their friends, or if they themselves met the same helpers when an enemy threatens them, what helpers for their vices do they have in these gods! 110. But why do you describe this in detail and utter such abominations from sacred lips? One thing is most important; but this is fastened like a nail with a word. We, with the help of high books and divine prophets, and finally, the inspired disciples of the Intercessor Christ, whose minds are covered with 115. the luminous Spirit and who saw the great God with a pure heart (and this is the only way to comprehend the invisible Divinity), - we have become knowledgeable in heavenly things, enlightened by God Himself and ascend higher and higher, as much as it is possible for us, one-day creatures to ascend here to God; 120. For the eye, even with the sharpest vision, does not easily penetrate clouds. But greater knowledge was given to us later; for desire is rewarded by achieving the desired goal. And those of you who became as attentive to our teaching as before were to your fables and disastrous honors, 125. those are three-fold and four-fold blessed mortals, because they were not unanimous in evil, but subjected it to legal punishment; and those whom you honor with altars, euphonious folk hymns, and notorious hecatombs, they often handed over as food to the long-lived ravens. 130. If your theologians (because you certainly have interpreters of sacred songs) want to assert that although all this is an empty song, expressed in measured words according to the laws of pleasant sweetness, a playful fable, nevertheless, even in this, under the luxurious appearance, a more important thought is hidden, 135. perceived by the rational and having two sides, like the two-faced Hermes, who looks forward with one face and back with the other, then Please note that I also have an irresistible, as I think, argument against this. And in our Scriptures there is a twofold meaning, one internal - the venerable Spirit, and the other external; 140. Both are of the Divine mark. And one is intelligible to a few, and the other to many, in the end, I think, so that the wise have the advantage or so that what is acquired with difficulty is more firmly observed; for what is quickly acquired is fragile. However, in our Scriptures the body itself is light and envelops a god-like soul; this is a double garment - 145. purple, translucent with a delicate silvery appearance. But we have nothing shameful that would cover God. I am ashamed to use a fable to help the Divine. Who tells you, hurrying to Ithaca, to sail past the cliffs of Scylla 150. or past the formidable and disastrous Charybdis, where you can die before the end of the voyage? Who forces you, going to the source of pure Divinity, to stop in the middle of the mud, where, while you are stuck in the mud, a pure stream will flow away from you? Pay attention to this wise word. Most people are thin 155. and without a directional sign are prone to vice; few go to perfection. It is difficult for me to stop the flow, but letting it flow down the slope is very easy. If you make the gods the patrons of debauchery, then before you dispel the darkness of an impenetrable fable with your rational word, you will destroy the reader of fables who strives for light. 160. But why do I need other evidence? Although you are so smart that you are able to argue with another, you will, if you can, be convinced of my argument. If fables are the essence of your teaching, then throw them to the ground. What is the pleasure of sacrificing one’s property in honor of an incredible shame and dishonoring God, the parent and guide of life? 165. But if a fable does not constitute an essence, and the one who loves to tell tales, like old women who amuse themselves with their favorite bowls on sleepless nights, puts a veil over his own eyes, then let it fall into the depths of the sea, as many such nonsense have already perished. For Christ contains everything to the very ends of the world, 170. having united together with His hands, which He once spread out on the glorious cross. If it seems indecent to you that God came to me through the immaculate Mother according to the new laws of virgin and unmarried birth, 175. delivering me from suffering, deposed by sin, that He died, venerated the dead, and then rose, then, lover of decency, giving honor to the pure gods, born of pure gods, if you have not heard before, at least now hear from me the word that Christ, my God, immutable in word, breathed into me. 180. Many also hold the teaching that from the womb of a virgin arose the man of God, whom the Spirit built as a church of the great God, erecting a pure church, because the Mother is the church of Christ, and Christ is the church of the Word. For after the destructive serpent subjected 185. our nature to a bitter crime, it was decided by the birth of the Divine man to heal sin and overthrow the terrible power of the lawless serpent. For this purpose, this man of God passed through the womb and honored one half of our birth, but did not touch the other, since the inexperienced Virgin gave birth. 190. But when the Spirit created and deified Him in the womb, and after the fulfillment of time brought Him into the light, then He took upon Himself coarse flesh and filled the church with the pure Divinity of the King-Word. But both of them, the man of God and the Tsar-Word, became for me one God. For the mortal did not give up its place 195. to the Immortal who filled it. He died of his own free will, briefly laying down His articulate body in the grave, so that, having risen upon his return from the dead, he could resurrect the dead and attract them to Himself, just as a magnet-stone attracts solid iron. For Christ took upon Himself the whole of me, with all human properties, 200. taking flesh, birth, my image, reproach, tomb, glory, resurrection. I say this in order to stop the uncontrollable desire of your word, when you, covered in shame, force me into a terrible battle and do not see the abyss of dirt in front of you, but notice the drops on mine. But if you want to know the true teaching, incline your ears. 205. I know that what I have said will be unpleasant for many, because many do not have a sound mind, but, carried away by vain opinions, have neglected the truth; However, I will say, without hiding, the undoubted teaching, although most of all I wish for a silver-like life. Apart from vile vice, 210. there is nothing indecent; The only perfection is virtue. Everything else occupies a middle ground between good and evil and depends on our will: it is beneficial for the good and, on the contrary, very indecent for the evil. I also include here the secret of my materiality 215. - that an immortal image is connected to my members. It was not out of hatred that God created man, who is the witness of His Divinity, the king below and the glory of the King on high. It is also not out of God’s love that man was given a calamitous birth. Or stop speaking, but deny that you have any concept of the Divine. 220. You say: if Christ was not brought into the world through a clean womb, then he is unclean, because for the unclean the pure cannot be contained. But suppose, if you wish, that birth is something unclean. However, every sane person knows the following. Whoever the sun's ray touches, it brings light to everyone; 225. Whatever the pleasantness of the fragrant world is mixed with, everything immediately begins to smell. But neither the sun nor the world is touched by any filth. Thus, God, who came through the pure Mother, not only did not become defiled in the womb, but also cleansed Her. And so, having died, He crushed the power of death, 230. and not only did He not suffer anything from death, but He also destroyed it. This is my teaching; and your indomitable tongue, if it was indomitable before, now let it be tamed! Now my Christ speaks; but you also arouse your tongue to reverent broadcasting. “Spring has come, and winter has passed, and the clear weather has arrived. 235. Come now and be filled with immeasurable light from Me. How long will you be tied up in dark caves? The time has already come about which the bright Spirit gave you a promise long ago. Come, taste life, but also accept a new cleansing!” Shut up, poets! Stop, you 240. furious demons, inspiring the most lawless chants! Let Orpheus lead the animals! Let Hesiod the Askrean sing to his Perseus! Let the glorious Homer sing of Troy and disaster! Let Musey and Lin, who became famous for their chants in ancient times, learn from the gods the measures of verse! 245. And let the triple-honored Hermias 131 help my song against my will, and let the Sibyl honor the cross in her verses! Punched by the arrows of the great Divinity, although closer than others (I do not deny this), they approached the truth, however, not by God’s inspiration, but because they looked into our books, 250. and partly they themselves remained completely deprived of light, and partly they briefly saw a flash of lightning and immediately plunged again into darkness. Therefore, give in to me and finally come to your senses. Let Phoebus prophesy the death of unprecedented gods! Self-Father, not conceived, motherless 255. He who crushed the evil power in me, chanting the last (Matthew 26:30). And let the Castalian spring, and Daphne, and the oracles of the oak 132 fall into the dust, having no value even for fools! Let the Egyptian demon, the empty-talking god, Ammon, fall; let the Vranchidae and the arrogant Epidaurian also fall; 260. Let both hidden and visible rituals disappear, and the abominations of the Eleusinian night famous among the ancients, and the infuriating, tearing sound of Phrygian pipes, and the Dictaean Corybantes, in full armor, indulging in a frenzy, and the Bacchants walking through the mountains around Semelin’s son, 265. and the evil ghosts of the night Hecate; may the cruelties in the church of Mithras, the hitherto unheard-of orgies, the howls of the Gallic Cybele, all the abominations of debauchery that are performed in honor of the fertilizing Nile, the plaintive lowings of Isis and Osiris, disappear, 270. the dry stump of Serapis - with a malicious fable about him, the fattened bull Apis and the mad Memphis, and you, pitiful Lakena, exploring the fortress of the young men who, surrounding your altar, cut each other with whips, and the Gothic Zamolxis, throwing arrows into the crowd; 275. Terrible sacrifices for foreigners among the Tauri; the god of the beautiful Prosymna, hugging the wooden Fal; voluptuous celebration and bargaining in honor of Cypris; Lind, who accompanies his sacred rites with curses! All things are rendered inactive by the blood of the glorious Christ, 280. Who together (which constitutes the greatest of miracles) is both firstborn and newborn. About you, Empedocles, the mouth of fire-breathing Etna testified that you were arrogant in vain and were mortal; having thrown away the copper shoes of the frivolous god, it disgraced you before all mortals, 285. when you wanted to become famous for your unfortunate leap! Stop talking fabulously, Hercules, Empedotimus, Trophonius, and you, incredible pride of the vain Aristaeus; you are mortal, not blessed - this is clear from your suffering; and only by hiding for a short time from the eyes of people, also by long-standing deception, 290. with the help of your fables you delighted in glory that did not belong to you! But Christ was not glorified by a few lips: His glory was not destroyed over time, like smoke instantly scattered in the voids of the air; because to fall immediately is the law for mortal glory. 295. But Christ is always and with everyone glorious; His glory will continually increase more and more as the years go by; and one day (of which I am sure) she will impose her bonds on the whole earth, for this is what was predicted, and what was predicted is already coming to its fulfillment. However, we will leave this to the will of the great God! 300. And I express what Christ, my Light, taught me, showing all the foundations of our teaching: Divinity, God’s creature and the feeder of everything, with which the Word of the great God constantly sets the world in motion; and I express this briefly, in a few verses 305. (this is my custom) concluding a vast word; However, I refer the rest to Hades. And you, most excellent of friends, Nemesius, accept this gift of my friendship, a gift more pleasant than other gifts, borrowed from my only acquisitions and the only one from me! This is not the song of a sweetly singing swan mourning its death, 310. when the wind blows against its aged wings; This is not the plaintive singing of the nightingale, when winter imposes bonds on everyone, and together with the singing birds, but the sweet singing of Christ-bearing lips, tuned by God Himself. Now accept this gift from me for all the good deeds, 315. with which you honored my gray hair, my friendship, my illness and my winged word - this and your glory, you honored (which is most amazing and dear) even before you saw me with your own eyes. For people show respect only by their eyes. If you follow this advice and give my sails free sailing, 320. then you are thrice blessed that you have such guidance and such a goal. And if you do not submit to them, and the envious person, who does not want even one person to be successful in everything, charms you so much with his evil eye; then even then may this good monument of Gregory accompany you. Maybe later you will approve of my word and from a small spark you will fan a high flame in yourself. And then someone will say: “Here is the magnanimous Nemesius, who held the faithful scales of justice among the Cappadocians! He did not leave us with deceptive silver and gold, nor with noble winged horses of excellent fame, 330. because he was invulnerable with wealth; but instead of everything, I acquired a great and bright pearl - Christ.” And in this wealth (I will boast about this) my compatriots, the Cappadocians, surpass everyone else. Oh, that you, as you are now written in my books, would be written along with ours in the book of heaven! To the beautiful and kind son Seleucus, branch of the noble root, commanding him to rejoice, I myself wish to rejoice at your life, to boast of your knowledge and morals. 5. First, have the fear of God and love for God, because God for every right-thinking person is the beginning and the end of his whole life. And secondly, my son, develop your character so that it is meek, humble, self-controlled, firm, pleasant, 10. unenvious, truthful, courageous, wise, sedate, hardworking, constant, chaste. This is a decoration for both young and old - to enrich yourself not with property, but with good morals! Good morals are your property, 15. but property is a deceptive thing: it mocks the disease of the love of wealth and loves to smile at one thing or another, imitating the custom of an unfaithful harlot, who deceives many lovers in different ways: she gets close to one, runs away from another, shows her affection to both 20. and has no sincere affection for anyone. Wealth by its nature has no solidity in itself; it is likened to the stormy waves of the sea, which in their incessant striving either swell or fall. Therefore, my son, continually be rich in good morals, 25 and you will have treasure that thieves will not steal (Matt. 6:19-20), which is not attacked by informers, which is not scooped up by oppressors with their own hands, which is not destroyed by the weapons of barbarians, but which, remaining in the abodes of the incorporeal, 30. is safely kept in the treasuries of the soul, and is not consumed by the swift force of fire, and is not covered by the wave of the deep sea. Preserving this wealth, which in the proper sense belongs to you and is akin to you, do not allow it to rust by exercising in the sciences, 35. study poetry books, historical writings, eloquent works of history, subtle reasonings of philosophers. But handle all this prudently, with wisdom collect useful things from everywhere, 40. with prudence avoid everything that is harmful in every writer, imitate the work of the wise bee, which lands on every flower, but very cleverly takes from each only what is useful. Nature itself is her mentor, 45. and you have reason. Reap abundantly what can bring benefit, and if something brings harm, having noticed something bad, quickly fly away, because the human mind is fleeting. Therefore, whatever is written in praise of virtue 50. by those who praise it and, on the contrary, condemn vice, study carefully, confirm the thought and the beauty of expression. And what vain things they talked about the gods, what immodest fables, 55. fairy tales worthy of laughter and tears were written by the teachings of demons, fear that as you fear snares and nets. When you read both, funny stories about the gods, and beautiful reasonings, 60. then despise the lovers of God, respect the reasonings and, as if from one plant, bypassing the thorns, pluck the roses. Here is the best rule for you on how to read pagan scriptures! To which scriptures it is appropriate for you to pay all your attention, I will tell you later, 65. but first I intend to offer you the following. A young man should by all means avoid conversations with vicious people and not seek pleasure in them. There are many people who look like mangy or some other disease-infected animals. 70. They lead simple-minded young men into temptation: being experienced in cunning deceptions, they want to transfer all their vices to them, like a disease, in order to cover up their sins by participating in them many. 75. Beware of them, for, according to the words of Paul, good customs are corrupted by evil conversations (1 Cor. 16:33). Yes, you must strictly observe the following rule: have an aversion to obscene songs such as are sung in theaters, menageries, and horse tracks; abhor the unpleasant spectacle of suffering, 80. the vanities of life, the hydra of pleasures, the indecent instructions of depraved people, for whom only one thing is disgusting - chastity. The servants of their shame have the art of being proud of their reproaches - 85. These are actors of the funny, they are accustomed to slaps; even before the hair was shaved off with a razor; became a storage place for all debauchery and shame; for them it turned into a kind of art in the eyes of everyone and to endure and do everything that is not allowed. 90. And some of them (an even more pitiful people) desecrated the glory of men in themselves, perverting nature itself by perversions of their members; these are effeminate men, masculine wives, and to tell the truth, neither husbands nor wives, 95. because they ceased to be one, and did not become another, and just as their morals are no longer what they should be by nature, so by nature they cannot be what they would like to become by their perverse will; this is some kind of riddle of debauchery, some kind of unsolved problem of passions - men in feminine form, and wives in masculine form. 100. What would someone say about the contagiousness of shameful songs, about poems that weaken the good mood of the heart, about pipes, about dancing prodigal bacchanalia, for which these miserable people even award rewards? What is all this worth? 105. Is it praise, sight and admiration or tears and sobs? Laughter reigns supreme among them, nature is given over to desecration, the various fires of voluptuousness are kindled, spectacles are erected for shameful deeds, vices do not run rampant in secret, 110. but rewards are offered for bad instructions. You abhor this, do not disgrace virgins, avoid all corruption of the eyes, and let your virgins be kept innocent. But even more avoid the bloody spectacles 115. presented by those gluttons whose God is their belly (Phil. 3:19). Like slaves of the womb, that most vile of ailments, they serve its evil commands. And the belly, the cruel ruler of the other members, sitting inside, 120. betrays them to wild beasts and greedily devours the price obtained for them. So the voracious belly painfully invades the larynxes of the beasts with its own members. And the seated spectators are insensitive to this suffering; and if a person is saved from animals, they utter screams, as if more than the animals themselves were deceived in their wait and sat in vain. But as soon as a person is caught 125. by the beast, emitting pitiful cries, screaming desperately and licking the feathers, all pity disappears in the gaze of each of the spectators. And as soon as they see the streams of blood, 130. with pleasure they raise loud applause, rejoice at the sight of what they should cry about, take a living part in the beasts and, whichever of them catches a person, they encourage him to greater cruelty, 135. They irritate his anger, as if they themselves are fed along with the beasts and, at the same time, devour human flesh. And these evil sellers of their own members find such a bitter end to life for themselves, first as slaves of a sweet piece and then themselves as food for animals, people hated in life, pitiful in death. 140. Some of their members are buried in beasts, others are mercilessly torn to pieces by the teeth, and others, half dissolved and scattered, seem to jump up with various shudders, 145. looking for another opportunity to escape and appear to be running. Do not desecrate your eyes with the abominations of cruel spectacles, do not look at the naked bodies of dying people, at the animals fed up with them, at these walking coffins, and at your brethren thrown to the ground. 150. And the spectacle of horse races, which seems not so cruel to many, is also a disease and an ulcer for the soul. It divides cities among itself, incites the people to rebellion, teaches war, sharpens the tongue for slander, 155. dissects civil communities into pieces, arms one family against another, disgraces the elders, drives the young into rage, inflames enmity between sincere friends, tramples laws, dares to commit evils that are even more woeful than those calculated, 160. that is, to call for help to the furious. sorcerers to contribute to victory, and feeds one disease with a new disease. For as soon as they get excited and reach a heated argument, they immediately run to the sorcerers, and they turn to the cunning of demons and with their help cause falls, crushes, 165. murders, since the horde of demons rejoices in our misfortunes. From this it is clearly clear that the spectacle of horse shows, while seemingly gentle, is detrimental to souls, because it leads to arguments, to fights, and, moreover, causes obvious damage to property. And how many houses it instantly upset! 170. How many rich people were forced to beg! How many cities, previously comfortable, were destroyed by him to the ground! From him, a violent rebellion stained the hands of the people with the blood of the rulers, 175. by force of arms reduced the cities to depopulation, betrayed them to fire and sword, punishing murders with murders and bloodshed with bloodshed. Therefore, what chaste person will make the subject of a spectacle not the speed of horses, but a competition of sorcerers, 180. a rebellion that gives rise to murder, the plague of cities? But instead, have fun with the sciences, with the help of which, most preferably, morals are formed. When your mind, as in the field, has sufficiently experienced its strength in various works of literature, 185. then occupy it with the inspired Scriptures, collecting the great wealth of two Testaments, one Old and the other always New; for the Testament written after the first is new and will not have a third in itself. 190. Be willing to devote all your attention to them; from them you will learn how to form good morals in yourself, how to honor the one true God, Who is the eternal Unity and Trinity, Father with the Son and with the Holy Spirit, 195. Trinity separated in Persons, Unity in nature. Therefore, do not merge the Hypostases numerically and, conversely, when worshiping God, do not dissect the nature. One Trinity, one God Almighty. Such is the most refined mystery of piety! 200. And the path of truth is indeed narrow - it is a path compressed and surrounded by rapids. Whoever slipped from it in one direction or another fell into the deep abysses of delusion. This happened to Sabellius, who approached the Jews, 205. and with Arius, who imitates the idolaters: one merges the hypostasis of the Persons, the other evilly divides the essence. But you unswervingly adhere to the middle path: divide as much as necessary, and combine as much as is permissible, 210. because the Trinity is combined unfused, and also the Unit is divided uncut, for nature is uncut, and the Hypostases eternally remain completely unfused. Be you too a keeper of these dogmas 215. and as a sincere executor of the commandments, so wise in all mysterious contemplations, constantly prospering and never becoming arrogant. In this case, greater grace will flourish in you. Look! Faithful Moses, 220. this man of God, an example of a virtuous life, who initially learned all the Egyptian wisdom, although he was brought up in the depths of wealth, nevertheless voluntarily gave himself up to flight, became poor and Egyptian luxury 225. exchanged the shepherds in the desert for a slave meal, preferring a sorrowful life to the glory of the tormentors, until he was recognized as worthy of perfect visions, until he saw the greatest mystery of the Angel who appeared in fire of a burning bush. And then, 230. worthy of being the first of those living then to hear the voice of God, and having accepted power, he delivers the groaning people from the yoke of slavery and, by God’s determination, becomes the leader of the entire tribe. But, having reached such a height, he does not exalt himself, 235. but calls himself thin-voiced and tongue-tied (Ex. 4:10), says that he is weak, so that, thinking about himself humbly, he may remain strong. Keep within yourself an example of such a life, mold yourself in the likeness of Moses. 240. And submit your information in Hellenic literature, like a judge who pronounces a sentence according to the law (as is proper) to serve the freedom of true dogmas and the wise speculation of the Scriptures. 245. For justice itself demands that spiritual wisdom, as heavenly and originating from God, should rule over earthly learning, as over a servant who should not be arrogant in vain, but trained in humble service. 250. For let earthly wisdom be a slave to Divine wisdom! But, however, you should especially know that not every book that has the respectable name of Scripture is undoubtedly such. For there are definitely books with false names 255.; and some of them constitute something in between and, as another would say, are adjacent to the word of truth, while others are counterfeit and extremely doubtful, like coins of counterfeit coinage and composition, which, although they have a royal inscription on them, 260. but due to the admixture of a worse substance do not correspond to the inscribed price. Therefore, I will name for you each of the inspired books, and in order to make this clearer to you, I will first rename the books of the Old Testament. The Pentateuch contains: Creation, Exodus, 265. in the middle is the book of Leviticus, followed by Numbers, then Deuteronomy. To these books add Jesus and Judges, then Ruth, four books of Kings, two books of Chronicles. 270. They are followed by Ezra the first and then Ezra the second. After this, I will name you five books of poetry: Job, crowned for his exploits in various sufferings, the book of Psalms - beneficial medicine for the soul, three books of Solomon: Proverbs of [this] wise man, 275. Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. To these books add twelve prophets: the first Hosea, the second Amos, then Micah, Joel, Obadiah and Jonah - the image of His three-day suffering, 280. after them Nahum, Habakkuk, the ninth Zephaniah, then Haggai, Zechariah and the two-named angel Malachi. After them, pay attention to the four prophets: the freely speaking, great Isaiah, 285. the compassionate Jeremiah, the mysterious Ezekiel and the last Daniel, the wisest in word and deed. Some people count Esther as one of these. Now is the time for me to talk about the books of the New Testament. 290. Take only four Gospels: Matthew, then Mark, add the third Luke to it, consider John fourth in time, and first in the height of dogmas, for I rightly call him the son of thunder (Mark 3:17) 295. - he thundered louder than anyone else about the Word of God. Take also the second book of Luke, the book of the ecumenical Acts of the Apostles. After this add the vessel of election, the preacher of tongues, the apostle 300. Paul, who in wisdom wrote fourteen epistles to the churches: one to the Romans, to which should be added two epistles to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, after this one to those living in Philippi, then one written 305. to the Colossians, two to to the Thessalonians and two to Timothy, another to Titus and Philemon, one epistle to each, and one to the Jews. Some call the Epistle to the Hebrews a counterfeit, but they say it unfairly, because it contains genuine grace. 310. What else remains? According to some, there should be seven conciliar epistles, and according to others, only three: one of James, one of Peter and one of John; some accept the three epistles of John, 315. two of Petrov, and in addition the seventh epistle of Judas. In a similar way, others consider the Apocalypse of John, and many call it a forgery. Such be it, the most undeceitful canon of the inspired Scriptures. 320. If you obey them, you will escape the snares of the world, and you will cast down vanity of hopes and with a generous hand you will begin to scatter fleeting wealth to the poor in anticipation of an undoubted harvest, because what is sown here is brought into the heavenly treasury. 325. Follow Christ, the wise Word of God. And you, blessed one, filled with all consolations, will appear as a star to many, both old and young, because a pious life shines more than the stars. The face of the prophets, martyrs, apostles 330. will surround you, as a member of their host, and crown you with victorious applause; and you, having acquired endless glory, will rejoice like a crown bearer rejoicing among the Angels. Be healthy and remember what is written. 335. Greet your aunt Olympias from me - this animated image of honesty, purity and asceticism, this seal of faith. If you, Seleucus, wished to know the number of iambs sent to you, then let it be known to you that there are three hundred of them, the same number of tens and three units. 340. For I wish, son, that the Trinity will always be desired for you. Phocas is the name of two saints. Sinon martyrs: one is a gardener, the other is an eniscon of Sinon. Memory of July 22 and September 22. – Ed. Nineveh. – Ed. Gregory (Greek) – “awake”. – Ed. Behind Nikobul the father was married to Alinian, the daughter of Gorgonia, sister of St. Gregory the Theologian. So St. Gregory calls the Persians by the name of their dynasty. – Ed. It is unclear which Phoenician city St. is referring to. Grigory. Min's comment suggests Tire, but one can assume Berit (modern Beirut), where the teaching of morals (in this case, Roman (Ausonia - Italy)) flourished at that time. – Ed. Possibly Alexandria. – Ed. Famous pagan soothsayers. – Ed. This message is attributed to St. Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, and in ancient copies has the inscription: “From Amphilochius to Seleucus.” But it is placed here on the basis that Billius and Leunclavius ​​place it among the works of St. Gregory the Theologian, finding the very syllable of the epistle very close to Gregory and relying on the mark they found in the ancient list: και ταΰτα δοκει μοι θεολόγου τυγχάνειν φρενός, ως παρ ʼ ʼ Αμφιλοχίου γραφε᾿ ντα. - “And it seems to me that the spirit of the Theologian is present here, as written by Amphilochius.”