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offspring. So then, those who are wrathful and possess other sin, so as to be subject for this reason to the wrath of punishment, he calls children of wrath, as Paul says: And we were by nature children of wrath, even as others. It is possible for these to change, so as to be no longer by nature children of wrath. For Paul, concerning himself and those who had similarly become holy, says that We were by nature children of wrath, as also the rest of men, who are still to this day in sin; but the added phrase "by nature" does not mean "according to nature," but "in truth." For he says, We were by nature children of wrath, indicating that sinners are in truth liable to wrath; and just as one becomes a child of wrath by nature through malice being with him, so by changing he becomes a child of truth and of virtue. For such things have been said about some by the Savior: Wisdom is justified by her children; calling the wise children of wisdom. For since those who are children of someone have their being from the one who bore them, and those who are of a certain quality also have their being from the quality that has come to be in them, it is fitting that those of a certain quality are called children and sons of that quality. For as such things were said by the Savior, These are the wise, the children of wisdom; so also he called others sons of peace, saying to the disciples: If you enter into a city, or into a house, and there be a son of peace there, your peace which is given to the city or to the house will rest upon the one who is in it, the son of peace.

Again the same Savior says: The sons of this world are wiser than the sons of light, in their own generation; calling sons of light those who have been enlightened by the knowledge of truth and by the works of virtue. To whom, having become light 39.1092 because they happen to be sons of light, he says: You are the light of the world; but those who love the present life, and refer all that they do to it, he named sons of this world. But even if he said these are wiser than the sons of light, he did not say they are wiser in every respect, but in their own generation; that is, in the matters that are proper to this world, they happen to be wiser than the sons of light. For they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. And concerning Judas it is written, that he was the son of perdition. For the Lord said concerning him, that None of my disciples was lost, except the son of perdition. And he called him the son of perdition for having done the things of perdition. For he was not such when he was one of the apostles, and ministered with them to the Savior, but when he became the betrayer of the Son of God and Teacher, having loved the silver pieces of perdition. And that he was not evil by nature, being with all the disciples he heard: Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. But if he calls sinners wolves, and the practitioners of virtue sheep, if Judas were evil by nature, he would not have been a sheep of Christ, since one who is evil by nature is not a practitioner of virtue. But not even the devil himself is evil by nature, but from the turning of his own free will. Therefore, just as, not only of base, but also of excellent pursuits and deeds, those who perform them are called sons and children in the aforementioned manner, according to which it was said that those who receive their being from qualities are the offspring of qualities, which being they have from the quality; so it is fitting that one is called flesh of sin, and body of sin, not absolutely, but for serving sin. For man, by misusing his body and flesh for lust and other such activities, makes his body a body of sin, and his flesh, flesh of sin; just as the virtuous man, through moderation and consequent virtue, sanctifies his own body and soul. For the virgin becomes holy in body and in spirit, which is soul, as Paul writes, saying that the

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γεννήματα. Τοὺς γοῦν ὀργίλους καὶ τὴν ἄλλην ἁμαρτίαν ἔχοντας, ὡς διὰ τοῦτο ὑποκεῖσθαι τῇ κατὰ κόλασιν ὀργῇ, τέκνα ὀργῆς ὀνομάζει, ᾗ φησιν ὁ Παῦλος· Καὶ ἦμεν φύσει τέκνα ὀργῆς, ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποί. Οὗτοι μεταβάλλειν δυνατὸν, ὡς μηκέτι εἶναι τέκνα φύσει ὀργῆς. Παῦλος γοῦν περὶ ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ τῶν παραπλησίως ἁγίων γεγενημένων, λέγει, ὅτι Ἦμεν φύσει τέκνα ὀργῆς, ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ ἄνθρωποι, οἱ εἰσέτι δεῦρο ἐν τῷ ἁμαρτάνειν ὄντες· προσκείμενον δὲ τὸ φύσει, οὐ τὸ κατὰ φύσιν σημαίνει, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀληθείᾳ. Τὸ γὰρ, Ἦμεν φύσει τέκνα ὀργῆς, λέγει, δηλῶν, ὅτι ἀληθείᾳ ὑπεύθυνοι ὀργῇ τυγχάνουσιν οἱ ἁμαρτάνοντες· ὥσπερ δὲ κατὰ φύσιν τέκνον ὀργῆς γίνεται τῷ συνεῖναι αὐτῷ κακίαν, οὕτω μεταβαλὼν ἀληθείας γίνεται τέκνον καὶ ἀρετῆς. Εἴρηται γοῦν περί τινων ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος τοιαῦτα· Ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ τῶν τέκνων αὐτῆς· τέκνα σοφίας τοὺς σοφοὺς λέγων. Ἐπεὶ γὰρ οἱ τέκνα τινὸς ὄντες, ἐκ τοῦ τεκόντος ἔχουσιν τὸ εἶναι· ἔχουσι δὲ καὶ οἱ ποιοὶ τὸ εἶναι ἐκ τῆς ποιότητος τῆς προσγενομένης αὐτοῖς· εἰκότως οἱ ποιοὶ τέκνα καὶ υἱοὶ τῆς ποιότητος ὀνομάζονται. Ὡς γὰρ εἴρηται ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος τοιαῦτα, Οὗτοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ σοφοὶ σοφίας τέκνα· οὕτω καὶ ἄλλους υἱοὺς εἰρήνης προσηγόρευσεν, φάσκων τοῖς μαθηταῖς· Ἐὰν εἰσέλθητε εἰς πόλιν, ἢ εἰς οἰκίαν, καὶ ᾖ ἐκεῖ υἱὸς εἰρήνης, ἡ εἰρήνη ὑμῶν ἡ διδομένη τῇ πόλει, ἢ τῇ οἰκίᾳ ἐπαναπαύσεται ἐπὶ τὸν ὄντα ἐν αὐτῇ υἱὸν εἰρήνης.

Πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς Σωτήρ φησιν· Φρονιμώτεροί εἰσιν οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ὑπὲρ τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ φωτὸς, ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ τῇ ἑαυτῶν· υἱοὺς φωτὸς λέγων τοὺς πεφωτισμένους τῇ γνώσει τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τοῖς ἔργοις τῆς ἀρετῆς. Πρὸς οὓς καὶ φῶς γεγενη 39.1092 μένους, διὰ τὸ τυγχάνειν φωτὸς υἱοὺς, λέγει· Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου· τοὺς δὲ ἀγαπήσαντας τὸ παρὸν ζῇν, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸ πάντα, ἃ ποιοῦσιν, ἀναφέροντας, υἱοὺς αἰῶνος τούτου ὠνόμασεν. Ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ εἶπεν τούτους φρονιμωτέρους ὑπὲρ τοὺς υἱοὺς τοῦ φωτὸς, οὐ καθάπαξ αὐτοὺς εἶπεν φρονιμωτέρους, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ ἑαυτῶν γενεᾷ· τουτέστιν, ἐν τοῖς πράγμασιν τοῖς οἰκειωθεῖσιν τούτῳ τῷ αἰῶνι, φρονιμώτεροι τῶν τοῦ φωτὸς υἱῶν τυγχάνουσιν. Σοφοὶ γάρ εἰσι τοῦ κακοποιῆσαι· τὸ δὲ καλῶς ποιῆσαι οὐ συνῆκαν. Καὶ περὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα δὲ γέγραπται, ὡς εἴη υἱὸς ἀπωλείας. Ὁ γὰρ Κύριος περὶ αὐτοῦ εἶπεν, ὅτι Οὐδεὶς ἀπώλετο ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν μου, εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας. Ἀπωλείας δὲ υἱὸν αὐτὸν εἶπεν. τῷ τὰ τῆς ἀπωλείας πεπραχέναι Οὐ γὰρ ὅτε εἷς ἦν τῶν ἀποστόλων, καὶ διηκόνει ἅμα ἐκείνοις τῷ Σωτῆρι, ἦν τοιοῦτος, ἀλλ' ὅτε προδότης γέγονε τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ∆ιδασκάλου, ἀγαπήσας τὰ τῆς ἀπωλείας ἀργύρια. Καὶ ὅτι οὐ κατὰ φύσιν ἦν κακὸς, ἅμα πᾶσι τοῖς μαθηταῖς ὢν ἤκουσεν· Ἰδοὺ ἀποστέλλω ὑμᾶς, ὡς πρόβατα ἐν μέσῳ λύκων. Εἰ δὲ λύκους τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας λέγει, πρόβατα δὲ τοὺς πρακτικοὺς τῆς ἀρετῆς, εἴπερ ὁ Ἰούδας φύσει κακὸς ἦν, οὐκ ἦν πρόβατον Χριστοῦ· ἐπεὶ μὴ πρακτικὸς τῆς ἀρετῆς ὁ κατὰ φύσιν κακός. Ἀλλ' οὐδ' αὐτὸς ὁ διάβολος κατὰ φύσιν κακὸς, ἀλλ' ἐκ τροπῆς τοῦ ἰδίου αὐτεξουσίου. Ὥσπερ οὖν, οὐ τῶν φαύλων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν σπουδαίων ἐπιτηδευμάτων καὶ πραττομένων, υἱοὶ καλοῦνται καὶ τέκνα οἱ ἐπιτελοῦντες τῷ προειρημένῳ τρόπῳ, καθ' ὃν ἐλέγετο γεννήματα ποιοτήτων εἶναι τοὺς λαμβάνοντας ἀπ' αὐτῶν τὸ εἶναι, ὅπερ ἔχουσιν ἐκ τῆς ποιότητος· εἰκότως σὰρξ ἁμαρτίας, καὶ σῶμα ἁμαρτίας, οὐ καθάπαξ λέγεταί τις, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὑπηρετεῖν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. Ὁ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος τῷ σώματι καὶ τῇ σαρκὶ εἰς λαγνείαν καὶ τὰς ἄλλας τοιαύτας ἐνεργείας καταχρώμενος, ποιεῖ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ, ἁμαρτίας σῶμα· καὶ τὴν σάρκα, σάρκα ἁμαρτίας· ὥσπερ ὁ σπουδαῖος διὰ σωφροσύνης καὶ τῆς ἑπομένης ἀρετῆς, τὸ σῶμα ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἁγιάζει. Ἡ παρθένος γοῦν ἁγία γίνεται σώματι καὶ πνεύματι, ὅ ἐστι ψυχὴ, ὡς γράφει Παῦλος, λέγων, ὅτι τὴν