Perfect friendship

Since the goal of the vir­tu­ous way of life
is the very thing we have been seek­ing,
it is time for you, noble friend,
to be known by God and to become his friend.

This is true per­fec­tion:
not to avoid a wicked life because like slaves we servile­ly fear pun­ish­ment,
nor to do good because we hope for rewards,
as if cash­ing in on the vir­tu­ous life by some busi­ness-like arrange­ment.
On the con­trary, dis­re­gard­ing all those things
for which we hope and which have been reserved by promise,
we regard falling from God’s friend­ship as the only thing dread­ful
and we con­sid­er becom­ing God’s friend the only thing wor­thy of hon­or and desire.
This, as I have said, is the per­fec­tion of life.

                        St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses