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to see likenesses of living creatures and beasts and creeping things and birds being worshiped, and still more almost all matter honored as a god. And for this reason the Lord undertook the incarnate economy on behalf of the human race, that he might abolish the polytheistic error and turn them back to the worship of the true God through the bath of regeneration, and gather all scattered humanity into the church which he also called his body, and that his word might be fulfilled: There shall be one flock, one shepherd. But again the envious devil, with his own malice and his ancient craft, does not cease deceiving the unstable; for as before, by renaming idols as gods, he led men astray from the true God, so now also by naming many churches, or rather, if one must speak the truth, by setting up idols of churches to the renunciation of Christ those who obey him, so that just as then through the so-called gods he made them depart from God, so now also through their so-called churches he might tear them away from the true church. For it is the devil's custom to deceive by great promises; for approaching the first man, or rather the woman, he said: If you eat of the tree of knowledge, you will be as gods, having promised to make them gods, that is, immortal, and he took away their very life. His deceit is therefore even greater; for when the Savior appeared and many believed in him, the evil one raised up a persecution against the Christians, and those whom he could no longer hold by the deceit of idolatry, he forced to become apostates through tyranny. And it was a dreadful thing to see: kings raging against Christians, laws full of lawlessness, judges avengers of impiety. For piety was a crime above all murder and all sorcery, and Christians alone inhabited the prisons, were tortured, were beaten, were roasted, were flayed, were thrown to wild beasts. And when all these things were brought upon them by the evil one and his ministers, that they might deny the church of God, they bore everything bravely and eagerly for the love of the Savior and gladly died the temporary death, exchanging it for eternal life. When the devil learned these things and understood that his violence and all his devices were conquered, he changed to another form of deceit and again a good profession and a humble appearance and a pious religion. For when continence and renunciation are preached, who would not easily be deceived by this trick? He knows that it is hard for a Christian to hear: Depart from God, deny the Savior, flee from the church, abandon the blood of Christ by which you were bought. If he said these things, who would have obeyed him? But now by his ancient method, again promising great things, he casts man out of the true paradise, the church of Christ. For the church of Christ is truly a paradise, in which are both the tree of life and the tree of knowledge, and a spring coming up from the earth and watering the paradise, from which also the four rivers flow; and it also has a great variety of fruits. For it is a paradise for this reason, because it has many kinds of fruits; for there is no paradise of a single kind, as the apostates say. And each one, according to his faith and zeal, grows and bears fruit; only let him remain in the paradise of Christ, as it is written: Planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish in the courts of our God. And if the time of martyrdom should come, let us give up the body, let us leave behind temporary life, let us disregard family, let us despise riches; let all things pass away, let faith, hope, love remain in us, as the apostle says. And in another place: For I am persuaded, he says, that neither life nor death, nor things present nor things to come, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of Christ. And what is this love, our Lord Jesus Christ himself said: He who eats my flesh and

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ἰδεῖν ὁμοιώματα ζῴων καὶ θηρίων καὶ ἑρπετῶν καὶ πετεινῶν προσκυνούμενα, ἔτι δὲ καὶ πᾶσαν σχεδὸν τὴν ὕλην ὡς θεὸν τιμωμένην. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὁ κύριος τὴν ἔνσαρκον οἰκονομίαν ὑπὲρ τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀνεδέξα το, ἵνα τὴν πολύθεον πλάνην καταργήσῃ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν προσκύνησιν τοῦ ὄντως θεοῦ ἐπιστρέψῃ διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ἀνθρωπότητα διεσπαρμένην συναγάγῃ εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ σῶμα αὐτοῦ προσηγόρευσε, καὶ πληρωθῇ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ· Ἔσται μία ποίμνη, εἷς ποιμήν. Ἀλλὰ πάλιν ὁ φθονερὸς διάβολος τῇ οἰκείᾳ κακίᾳ καὶ τῇ ἀρχαίᾳ αὐτοῦ τέχνῃ οὐ παύεται ἀπατῶν τοὺς ἀστηρίκτους· ὡς γὰρ πρὸ τοῦ εἴδωλα μετονομάσας θεοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄντως θεοῦ ἀπεπλάνησε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, οὕτως καὶ νῦν πολλὰς ἐκκλησίας ὀνομάσας, μᾶλλον δέ, εἰ δεῖ τὸ ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, εἴδωλα ἐκκλησιῶν ἀναστήσας τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀποταγῇ τοὺς πειθομένους αὐτῷ, ἵν' ὥσπερ τότε διὰ τῶν λεγομένων θεῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπέστησεν, οὕτως καὶ νῦν διὰ τῶν λεγομένων παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐκκλησιῶν τῆς ὄντως ἐκκλησίας ἀποσπάσῃ. Ἔθος γὰρ τῷ διαβόλῳ διὰ μεγάλων ἐπαγγελιῶν ἀπατᾶν· τῷ γὰρ πρώτῳ ἀνθρώπῳ, ἤτοι τῇ γυναικὶ προσελθὼν εἶπεν· Ἐὰν φάγητε τοῦ ξύλου τῆς γνώσεως, ἔσεσθε ὡς θεοί, θεοὺς ποιήσειν ἐπαγγειλά μενος, τουτέστιν ἀθανάτους, καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν ζωὴν αὐτῶν προσαφ είλατο. Ἔχει δὲ τοίνυν πλέον ὁ δόλος αὐτοῦ· τοῦ σωτῆρος γὰρ ἐπιφανέντος καὶ πολλῶν πιστευσάντων αὐτῷ ἐπήγειρεν ὁ πονηρὸς διωγμὸν κατὰ τῶν χριστιανῶν καὶ οὓς οὐκέτι ἠδύνατο κατέχειν τῇ ἀπάτῃ διὰ τῆς εἰδωλολατρίας, τούτους διὰ τῆς τυραννίδος ἀποστάτας ἠνάγκασε γενέσθαι. Καὶ ἦν ἰδεῖν πρᾶγμα φρικτόν· βασιλεῖς μαινομένους κατὰ τῶν χριστιανῶν, νόμους ἀνομίας μεστούς, δικαστὰς ἐκδίκους τῆς ἀσεβείας. Ὑπὲρ πάντα γὰρ φόνον καὶ πᾶσαν γοητείαν ἔγκλημα ἦν ἡ εὐσέβεια, καὶ μόνοι οἱ χριστιανοὶ ᾤκουν τὰ δεσμωτήρια, ἐστρεβλοῦντο, ἐτύπτοντο, ἐτηγανίζοντο, ἐξέοντο, θηρίοις ἐνεβάλλοντο. Καὶ τούτων ἁπάντων ἐπαγομένων αὐτοῖς παρὰ τοῦ πονηροῦ καὶ τῶν τούτου διακόνων, ἵνα τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀρνήσωνται, γενναίως καὶ προθύμως ἅπαντα ἔφερον διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸν σωτῆρα ἀγάπην καὶ ἡδέως ἀπέθνῃσκον τὸν πρόσκαιρον θάνατον τῆς ἀϊδίου ζωῆς ἀνταλλαττόμενοι. Ταῦτα καταμαθὼν ὁ διάβολος καὶ κατανοήσας νικωμένην αὐτοῦ τὴν βίαν καὶ πάσας αὐτοῦ τὰς ἐπινοίας μετεβλήθη εἰς ἕτερον εἶδος ἀπάτης καὶ πάλιν ἐπάγγελμα χρηστὸν καὶ σχῆμα ταπεινὸν καὶ θρησκεία εὐλαβής. Ἐγκρατείας γὰρ καὶ ἀποτάξεως κηρυσσομένης τίς ἂν μὴ εὐκόλως ἀπατηθῇ τῷ δόλῳ τούτῳ; Οἶδεν ὅτι βαρὺ ἀκοῦσαι χριστιανῷ· Ἀπόστα ἀπὸ θεοῦ, ἄρνησαι τὸν σω τῆρα, δραπέτευσον ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ἐγκατάλιπε τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ δι' οὗ ἠγοράσθης. Ταῦτα εἰ εἶπε, τίς ἂν ὑπήκουσεν αὐτῷ; Νυνὶ δὲ τῇ ἀρχαίᾳ μεθόδῳ πάλιν μεγάλα ἐπαγγελλόμενος τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ παραδείσου, τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐκβάλλει τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Ὄντως γὰρ παράδεισος ἡ ἐκκλησία τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς καὶ τὸ ξύλον τῆς γνώσεως, καὶ πηγὴ ἡ ἀνερχομένη ἐκ τῆς γῆς καὶ ποτίζουσα τὸν παράδεισον, ἐξ ἧς καὶ οἱ τέσσαρες ποταμοὶ ἀπορρέουσιν· ἔχει δὲ καὶ πολλὴν διαφορὰν καρπῶν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ παράδεισος, ἐπειδὴ πολλὰ εἴδη καρπῶν· μονοειδὴς γὰρ παράδεισος οὐκ ἔστιν, ὡς οἱ ἀποστάται λέγουσιν. Ἕκαστος δὲ καθὼς πίστεως καὶ σπουδῆς ἔχει, αὐξάνει καὶ καρποφορεῖ· μόνον μενέτω ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καθὼς γέγραπται· Πεφυτευμένοι ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ κυρίου ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἐξανθήσουσιν. Ἐὰν δὲ καὶ γένηται καιρὸς μαρτυ ρίου, παραδῶμεν τὸ σῶμα, καταλείψωμεν τὴν πρόσκαιρον ζωήν, ὑπερίδωμεν γένους, καταφρονήσωμεν χρημάτων· πάντα οἰχέσθω, μενέτω ἐν ἡμῖν ἡ πίστις, ἐλπίς, ἀγάπη, ὡς λέγει ὁ ἀπόστολος. Καὶ ἐν ἄλλῳ δὲ τόπῳ· Πέπεισμαι, φησίν, ὅτι οὔτε ζωὴ οὔτε θάνατος οὔτε ἐνεστῶτα οὔτε μέλλοντα οὔτε τις κτίσις ἑτέρα δυνήσεται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Τίς δέ ἐστιν αὕτη ἡ ἀγάπη, αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς εἶπεν· Ὁ τρώγων μου τὴν σάρκα καὶ