The Christian Life and the Glory of God
Brotherhood and being worthy children of the sonship given to us and having received us into adoption. Therefore, let us serve Him out of love, being ready for every accomplishment of righteousness, adorned with purity, pursuing unpossessiveness, persisting in the words of God, feasting upon holy prayers and sacred hymns to God, transforming ourselves from this age, forgetting earthly and mortal desires, overcoming evil with good, returning nothing evil for evil, not considering ourselves to be living in the land, but to be citizens in heaven (Phil 3:20), to converse with angels, and to stand by the throne of the heavenly kingdom.
These are the teachings of the holy apostles; in these Christ established for us the blessed and eternal covenant. Let the world marvel at your virtue; let the Jews be ashamed, seeing the new and chosen people, how beautifully it is adorned with the spiritual, with what brightness it illuminates the world. For this reason He left us mixed among the Gentiles, so that we might appear as lights in the world, so that we might be seen as a seed of salvation for the conversion of all those who come together and encounter us.
See that no one among the Gentiles blasphemes God because of you; but let Him who called and sanctified and saved be praised among us. Let the violent and the insolent marvel at our gentleness and moderation; let the reviler, when answering back, be restrained; let the one greedy for money and desiring to judge find us undisturbed, regarding money not as something we possess as an earthly property, but as holding the heavenly; let the one approaching us with friendly entreaty for worldly pleasures find us solemn, immovable, desiring temperance, not being enticed by pleasure, so that they may see how much the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, having deadened the nature of the flesh, is powerful.
Let the one ready for perjury find us even refusing to swear, but fearing to bring the name of God into lowly and earthly matters. For thus we shall all be teachers to those who encounter us in whatever matter. Thus, living as citizens truly, we shall become holy leaven, and through us the world shall be leavened for salvation, and much fruit shall be found from us by the Lord, kept for Him, and God shall be glorified in us according to the one saying, 'In this the Father was glorified, that you should bear much fruit and become my disciples' (John 15:8). And the Lord, having been glorified by us, will glorify us with eternal glory, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom belongs the glory through the ages of ages.
Greek
ἀδελφότητα καὶ ὡς υἱοὺς ἀξίους εἶναι τοῦ δωρουμένου ἡμῖν τὴν υἱότητα καὶ δεξαμένου ἡμᾶς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν. Ἑκόντες οὖν καὶ ἐξ ἀγάπης δουλεύσωμεν αὐτῷ ἕτοιμοι ὄντες πρὸς πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνης κατόρθωσιν, ἁγνείᾳ κοσμούμενοι, ἀκτημοσύνην διώκοντες, λόγοις θεοῦ προσκαρτεροῦντες, εὐχαῖς ἁγίαις καὶ ὕμνοις θεοῦ ἱεροῖς ἀνακείμενοι, μετασχηματίζοντες ἑαυτοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, ἐπιλανθανόμενοι τῶν γηΐνων καὶ θνητῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν, νικῶντες τῷ ἀγαθῷ τὸ κακόν, μηδενὶ κακὸν ἀντὶ κακοῦ ἀποδιδόντες, μὴ λογιζόμενοι ἑαυτοῖς διατρίβειν ἐν τῇ γῇ, ἀλλ' ἐν οὐρανῷ πολιτεύεσθαι, μετ' ἀγγέλων ἀναστρέφεσθαι, τῷ θρόνῳ τῆς οὐρανίου βασιλείας παραστῆναι. Ταῦτα τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων τὰ διδάγματα, ἐν τούτοις Χριστὸς ἡμῖν τὴν μακαρίαν καὶ αἰώνιον διαθήκην διέθετο. Θαυμασάτω τὴν ἀρετὴν ὑμῶν ὁ κόσμος, αἰσχυνθήτωσαν Ἰουδαῖοι τὸν νέον καὶ ἐκλεκτὸν λαὸν θεωροῦντες, ὅσῳ κάλλει κεκόσμηται πνευματικῷ, ὅσῃ λαμπρότητι καταυγάζει τὸν κόσμον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ἡμᾶς μεμιγμένους ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἀφῆκεν, ἵνα φαινώμεθα ὡς φωστῆρες ἐν κόσμῳ, ἵνα σπέρμα σωτηρίας ὦμεν εἰς ἐπιστροφὴν θεωρούμενοι πᾶσιν τοῖς συνοῦσι καὶ συντυγχάνουσιν. Ὁρᾶτε μή τις δι' ὑμᾶς τῶν ἐθνικῶν βλασφημήσει θεόν· εὐφημείσθω δὲ ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ καλέσας καὶ ἁγιάσας καὶ σώσας. Ὁ βίαιος καὶ θρασὺς θαυμασάτω τὴν ἐπιείκειαν ἡμῶν καὶ μετριότητα· ὁ λοιδορῶν ἀντευφημούμενος ἐντρεπέσθω· ὁ περὶ χρημάτων φιλονεικῶν καὶ δικάζεσθαι βουλόμενος ἀταράχους ἡμᾶς εὑρισκέτω περὶ χρήματα μὴ νομίζοντας ἑαυτοὺς ἔχειν κτῆσιν ἐπίγειον, ἀλλὰ κρατοῦντας τὴν ἐπουράνιον· ὁ διὰ παρακλήσεως φιλικῆς προσιέμενος ἡμᾶς εἰς ἡδονὰς κοσμικὰς εὑρισκέτω σεμνούς, ἀμετακινήτους, σωφροσύνην ποθοῦντας, οὐχ ἡδονῇ δελεαζομένους, ἵνα εἴδωσιν πόσον ἰσχύει πνεύματος ἁγίου συνοίκησις φύσιν σαρκὸς ἐκνεκρώσαντος. Ὁ πρόχειρος εἰς ἐπιορκίαν εὑρισκέτω μηδὲ ὀμνύειν ἀνεχομένους ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ δεδοικότας τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ προσφέρειν ὄνομα περὶ ταπεινῶν καὶ γηΐνων πραγμάτων. Οὕτω γὰρ ἐσόμεθα πάντες διδάσκαλοι τῶν ἐντυγχανόντων ἡμῖν ἐν οἱῳδήποτε πράγματι. Οὕτω δὲ πολιτευόμενοι ἀληθῶς γενησόμεθα ζύμη ἁγία καὶ δι' ἡμῶν ζυμωθήσεται ὁ κόσμος εἰς σωτηρίαν καὶ πόλυς ἐξ ἡμῶν καρπὸς εὑρεθήσεται τῷ κυρίῳ πεφυλαγμένος καὶ δοξασθήσεται ὁ θεὸς ἐν ἡμῖν κατὰ τὸν λέγοντα κύριον· Ἐν τούτῳ ἐδοξάσθη ὁ πατήρ, ἵνα ὑμεῖς καρπὸν πολὺν φέρητε καὶ γένησθέ μοι μαθηταί. ∆οξασθεὶς δὲ ὑφ' ἡμῶν ὁ κύριος δοξάσει ἡμᾶς τῇ αἰωνίῳ δόξῃ, ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. 3
About this text
A bishop reflects on Christ's birth, linking divine mystery to earthly faith through vivid imagery and scriptural insight.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 39 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.