Listen, furthermore, to the apostle, who said, “Each
person will receive his wage according to his work.” (1 Corinthians 3:8) The
one who worked a little will receive according to his labour, but the one who
greatly exerted [himself] will be rewarded according to his exertion. Job also said,
“Far be it from God to do wrong, and far be it from him to commit sin. For
he rewards a person according to his actions, and he treats a man according to
his conduct.” (Job 34:10-11) Furthermore, the apostle said, “One star
exceeds [another] star in brightness; so it is also with the resurrection of
the dead.” (1 Corinthians 15:41-42) Know, then, that when people enter into
life, [one] reward will exceed [another] reward, [one] glory will exceed
[another] glory, and [one] wage will exceed [other] wages. One condition is
more elevated than another, and one light is more attractive than [another] light
in appearance. The sun is greater than the moon, and the moon is greater than
the stars that are with it. Observe that the moon and the stars are under the
power of the sun, and their light is swallowed up in the brightness of the sun.
But the sun has no power when the moon and stars are shining, so that it might
not abolish the night which was separated from the day. When the sun was
created, it was called a ‘light’. Observe that the sun and the moon and the
stars were all called ‘lights’, but one light exceeds another light. The sun
conceals the light of the moon, the moon darkens the light of the stars, and
the light of one star exceeds that of [another] star. (Demonstration 22.19, in The
Demonstrations of Aphrahat, the Persian Sage [trans. Adam Letho; Gorgias
Eastern Christian Studies 27; Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press LLC, 2010], 473)
