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to be carried away by such suspicions, but it confesses that the Spirit is altogether divine by nature and is both such and is so called. You see how the truth is revealed to you automatically; for the Christian preaching does not know many divine natures, since there would be every necessity also to invent many gods; for it is not possible for many gods to be conceived unless the 9.334 otherness according to nature proclaims the multitude of gods. If, therefore, the divine nature is believed by all to be one, and the Holy Spirit is divine by nature, why do you sever with your reason that which is joined by nature? But who will give me the power of that word, whose end was the salvation of its hearers? Peter uttered one voice to the people of Jerusalem and so many thousands of men were caught in the net by the fisherman with the one cast of his word. But so many and such words are worn out by the teachers among us, and what addition has there been to those who are saved?

That which is failing fails, says one of the prophets, that which is dying dies. that which has gone astray does not return; the bond of love has been loosed, peace has been snatched from our treasures. O the evils! for I am led to groan over the suffering; love was once our possession, this was our paternal inheritance, which the Lord treasured up for us through the disciples, saying: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. But this inheritance the successive heirs, son receiving it from father, preserved down to our fathers, but this prodigal generation has not guarded it. How has the wealth of love gone, slipping through our hands? We are impoverished of love and our enemies revel in our goods. I was envious of the lawless; thus says the psalmist, but I, having parodied the saying a little 9.335, will read it: I was envious of those who are unlike, I was envious when I saw the peace of sinners, they stand together with one another and we are cut off from one another, they join forces for themselves and we dissolve our own alliance. The robber of souls, having stolen our possession, brought it and cast it before the enemies of the truth, not benefiting them, let no one think this (for the inventor of evils cannot become a benefactor), but in order that he might render them worse in their conspiracy for evil; but What have I to do with judging those outside? says the one who said it, but I say: how shall I bear without tears the alienation of the brethren? How did this young brother go away, leaving his paternal substance? He is another one of those mentioned in the gospel, even if he hides the youth of his soul with the grayness of his body, how did he depart into a far country, having fled from the faith? How has he gone, having himself halved his father's substance by dragging down the high things of the dogmas to lowly and swinish thoughts, having squandered the wealth on heretical harlots? For heresy is a harlot, bewitching with deceitful pleasures. For if he should ever come to himself like that one, if he should desire again the paternal luxury, if he should run back to the rich table, on which is much of the daily bread that feeds the Lord's hired servants (and all these are hired servants who work the vineyard of God in hope of the promise), what a running there would have been toward 9.336 him, not of one father, but of so many fathers meeting him, embracing him, kissing him with kisses. There is the first robe of faith, which the three hundred and eighteen souls, working well as spinners, wove for the church, there is the ring on his hand, having engraved on it the seal of faith, the dances, the calf, the music, all the other things that are enumerated in the gospel, except for the jealousy of the brother. But why do we fashion dreams for ourselves in vain? The heart of the brethren has been hardened and is resistant; they put forward the common fathers and do not accept the inheritance from them, they lay claim to the common nobility and are alienated from their kinship with us, to the enemies

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τοιαύταις ὑπονοίαις συνενεχθῆναι, ἀλλ' ὁμολογεῖ πάντως θεῖον ὂν τὸ πνεῦμα τῇ φύσει τοιοῦτό τε εἶναι καὶ λέγεσθαι. ὁρᾷς ὡς αὐτομάτως ἐκκαλύπτεταί σοι ἡ ἀλήθεια· πολλὰς γὰρ θείας φύσεις τὸ τῶν Χριστιανῶν οὐκ ἐπίσταται κήρυγμα, ἐπεὶ ἀνάγκη πᾶσα καὶ πολλοὺς θεοὺς ἀναπλάττεσθαι· οὐ γάρ ἐστι δυνατὸν πολλοὺς νοηθῆναι θεοὺς μὴ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν 9.334 ἑτερότητος τὸ τῶν θεῶν πλῆθος διαγγελλούσης. εἰ οὖν μία παρὰ πάντων ἡ θεία φύσις εἶναι πιστεύεται, θεῖον δὲ τῇ φύσει τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, τί διατέμνεις τῷ λόγῳ τὸ συνημμέ νον τῇ φύσει; ἀλλὰ τίς μοι δώσει τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ λόγου ἐκείνου, οὗ τὸ τέλος σωτηρία τῶν ἀκουόντων ἦν; μίαν προήκατο φωνὴν Ἱεροσολυμίταις ὁ Πέτρος καὶ τοσαῦται χιλιάδες ἀνθρώπων τῇ μιᾷ περιβολῇ τοῦ λόγου ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁλιέως ἐσαγηνεύθησαν. τοσοῦτοι δὲ καὶ τοιοῦτοι παρὰ τῶν διδασκάλων ἐν ἡμῖν τρίβονται λόγοι καὶ τίς γέγονε τῶν σῳζομένων προσθήκη;

Τὸ ἐκλεῖπον ἐκλείπει, φησί τις τῶν προφητῶν, τὸ ἀποθνῇσκον ἀποθνῄσκει. τὸ πεπλανημένον οὐκ ἐπιστρέφει· λέλυται τῆς ἀγάπης ὁ σύνδεσμος, ἥρπασται τῶν θησαυρῶν ἡμῶν ἡ εἰρήνη. ὢ τῶν κακῶν· προάγομαι γὰρ ἐπιστενάξαι τῷ πάθει· ἡμέτερον κτῆμα ἦν ἡ ἀγάπη ποτέ, πατρῷος ἡμῖν οὗτος ὁ κλῆρος, ὃν διὰ τῶν μαθητῶν ἡμῖν ὁ κύριος ἐθησαύρισεν εἰπών· Ἐντολὴν καινὴν δίδωμι ὑμῖν, ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους. ἀλλὰ ταύτην τὴν κληρονομίαν οἱ μὲν ἐφεξῆς διάδοχοι παῖς παρὰ πατρὸς ἐκδεχόμενοι μέχρι τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν διεσώσαντο, ἡ δὲ ἄσωτος αὕτη γενεὰ οὐκ ἐφύλαξεν. πῶς οἴχεται τῶν χειρῶν ἡμῶν διαρρυεὶς τῆς ἀγάπης ὁ πλοῦτος; ἡμεῖς τῆς ἀγάπης πτωχεύομεν καὶ οἱ ἐχθροὶ τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἀγαθοῖς ἐναβρύνονται. Ἐζήλωσα ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀνόμοις· οὕτως φησὶν ὁ ψαλμῳδός, ἐγὼ δὲ μικρόν 9.335 τι παρῳδήσας τὸ ῥηθὲν ἀναγνώσομαι· ἐζήλωσα ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀνομοίοις, ἐζήλωσα εἰρήνην ἁμαρτωλῶν θεωρῶν, ἐκεῖνοι ἀλλήλοις συνίστανται καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀπ' ἀλλήλων διατεμνόμεθα, ἐκεῖνοι ἑαυτοῖς συνασπίζουσι καὶ ἡμεῖς τὸν ἡμέτερον συνασπισμὸν διαλύομεν. κλέψας τὸ ἡμέτερον κτῆμα ὁ τῶν ψυχῶν λωποδύτης τοῖς ἐχθροῖς τῆς ἀληθείας φέρων προσέρ ριψεν οὐκ ἐκείνους εὐεργετῶν, τοῦτο μηδεὶς οἰέσθω (ὁ γὰρ τῶν κακῶν εὑρετὴς εὐεργέτης γενέσθαι οὐ δύναται), ἀλλ' ἵνα χείρους αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ περὶ τὸ κακὸν συμπνοίᾳ παρα σκευάσῃ· ἀλλὰ Τί μοι τοὺς ἔξω κρίνειν; φησὶν ὁ εἰπών, ἐγὼ δέ· πῶς ἀδακρυτὶ βαστάσω τὴν τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἀλλοτρίωσιν; πῶς ᾤχετο καταλιπὼν τὴν πατρῴαν οὐσίαν ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὁ νέος οὗτος; ἄλλος ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ δηλούμενος, κἂν ὑποκρύπτῃ τῇ πολιᾷ τοῦ σώματος τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν νεότητα, πῶς ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς χώραν μακρὰν δραπετεύσας ἀπὸ τῆς πίστεως; πῶς οἴχεται καὶ αὐτὸς ἡμισεύσας τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν οὐσίαν ἐν τῷ καθελκύσαι τὰ ὑψηλὰ τῶν δογμάτων πρὸς τὰ ταπεινὰ καὶ χοιρώδη νοήματα ταῖς αἱρετικαῖς πόρναις προσδαπανήσας τὸν πλοῦτον; πόρνη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ αἵρεσις ταῖς ἠπατημέναις ἡδοναῖς γοητεύουσα. εἰ γὰρ ἔλθοι ποτὲ εἰς ἑαυτὸν ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνος, εἰ γὰρ ἐπιθυμήσειε πάλιν τῆς πατρῴας τρυφῆς, εἰ γὰρ ἐπαναδράμοι πρὸς τὴν πλουσίαν τράπεζαν, ἐν ᾗ πολὺς ὁ ἐπιούσιος ἄρτος ὁ τρέφων τοὺς τοῦ κυρίου μισθίους (μίσθιοι δὲ πάντες οὗτοι οἱ ἐπ' ἐλπίδι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τὸν ἀμπελῶνα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐργαζόμενοι), οἷος ἂν ἐγένετο πρὸς 9.336 αὐτὸν ὁ δρόμος οὐχ ἑνὸς πατρός, ἀλλὰ τοσούτων πατέρων προσαπαντώντων, περιπλεκομένων, ἀσπαζομένων φιλήμασιν. ἐκεῖ ἡ στολὴ τῆς πίστεως ἡ πρώτη, ἣν αἱ τριακόσιαι ὀκτὼ καὶ δέκα ψυχαὶ καλῶς ἐριθεύουσαι τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐξύφηναν, ἐκεῖ ὁ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ δακτύλιος ἐντετυπωμένην ἔχων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν σφραγῖδα τῆς πίστεως, οἱ χοροί, ὁ μόσχος, ἡ συμφωνία, τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ὅσα ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ κατείλεκται πλὴν τῆς τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ζηλοτυπίας. ἀλλὰ τί μάτην ὀνείρους ἑαυτοῖς ἀναπλάττομεν; ἐσκλήρυνται ἡ καρδία τῶν ἀδελφῶν καὶ ἀντιτύπως ἔχει· τοὺς κοινοὺς πατέρας προβάλλονται καὶ τὴν κληρονομίαν τὴν ἀπ' αὐτῶν οὐ προσδέχονται, τῆς κοινῆς εὐγενείας ἀντιποιοῦνται καὶ τῆς πρὸς ἡμᾶς συγγενείας ἀλλοτριοῦνται, τοῖς ἐχθροῖς