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him, this man is already proud and has separated himself. For it is written, “God opposes the proud.” Let us be zealous, therefore, not to oppose the bishop, so that we may be subject to God. And the more one sees a bishop keeping silent, the more he should fear him; for everyone whom the master of the house sends for his own stewardship, we ought to receive him as the one who sent him. It is clear, therefore, that we must regard the bishop as the Lord himself. Onesimus himself, therefore, highly praises your good order in God, that you all live according to truth, and that no heresy dwells among you; but you do not even listen to anyone more than to Jesus Christ speaking in truth. For some are accustomed with wicked guile to carry about the Name, while doing other things unworthy of God; whom you must shun as wild beasts. For they are rabid dogs, biting in secret; whom you must be on your guard against, as they are hard to cure. There is one physician, both carnal and spiritual, begotten and unbegotten, God become in flesh, true life in death, both from Mary and from God, first passible and then impassible, Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore let no one deceive you, as indeed you are not deceived, being wholly God's. For when no strife is fixed in you that can torment you, then you live according to God. I am your refuse and I am purified for you, Ephesians, a church renowned throughout the ages.

Those who are carnal cannot do spiritual things, nor can the spiritual do carnal things, just as faith cannot do the things of unbelief, nor unbelief the things of faith. But what you do even according to the flesh, these things are spiritual; for you do all things in Jesus Christ. But I have learned of some who passed by that way, holding evil doctrine; whom you did not allow to sow among you, stopping your ears, so as not to receive what was sown by them, as being stones of the Father's temple, prepared for the building of God the Father, being lifted up to the heights by the engine of Jesus Christ, which is the cross, using as a rope the Holy Spirit; and your faith is your hoist, and love is the way that leads up to God. You are all, therefore, also fellow-travelers, God-bearers and temple-bearers, Christ-bearers, bearers of holy things, adorned in all respects with the commandments of Jesus Christ; in which, rejoicing, I was deemed worthy through this letter to converse with you and to rejoice with you that according to another life you love nothing but God alone. And for other men “pray without ceasing.” For there is in them hope of repentance, that they may attain to God. Allow them, therefore, to be instructed by you, at least by your works. To their outbursts of anger, be you meek; to their boastings, be you humble; to their blasphemies, you offer prayers; to their error, be you “steadfast in the faith”; to their savagery, be you gentle, not striving to imitate them. Let us be found their brothers in gentleness; but let us strive to be “imitators of the Lord”; who was more wronged? who was more deprived? who was more rejected? so that no weed of the devil may be found in you, but you may remain in all purity and self-control in Jesus Christ, both carnally and spiritually. These are the last times. Therefore let us be reverent, let us fear the long-suffering of God, so that it may not become a judgment for us. For either let us fear the wrath to come, or let us love the grace that is present, one of the two; only to be found in Christ Jesus unto the true life. Apart from him let nothing befit you, in whom I carry about my bonds, the spiritual pearls, in which may I be resurrected through your prayer, of which may I always be a partaker, so that I may be found in the lot of the Ephesian Christians, who also were always in agreement with the apostles in the power of Jesus Christ. I know who I am and to whom I write.

I am a condemned man, you have received mercy; I am in danger, you are established. You are a passageway for those being slain for God, fellow initiates of Paul, the sanctified, the

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αὐτό, οὗτος ἤδη ὑπερηφανεῖ καὶ ἑαυτὸν διέκρινεν. Γέγραπται γάρ· «Ὑπερηφάνοις ὁ θεὸς ἀντιτάσσεται.» Σπουδάσωμεν οὖν μὴ ἀντιτάσσεσθαι τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ, ἵνα ὦμεν θεῷ ὑποτασσόμενοι. Kαὶ ὅσον βλέπει τις σιγῶντα ἐπίσκοπον, πλειόνως αὐτὸν φοβείσθω· πάντα γὰρ ὃν πέμπει ὁ οἰκοδεσπότης εἰς ἰδίαν οἰκονομίαν, οὕτως δεῖ ἡμᾶς αὐτὸν δέχεσθαι, ὡς αὐτὸν τὸν πέμψαντα. Tὸν οὖν ἐπίσκοπον δῆλον ὅτι ὡς αὐτὸν τὸν κύριον δεῖ προσβλέπειν. Aὐτὸς μὲν οὖν Ὀνήσιμος ὑπερεπαινεῖ ὑμῶν τὴν ἐν θεῷ εὐταξίαν, ὅτι πάντες κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ζῆτε καὶ ὅτι ἐν ὑμῖν οὐδεμία αἵρεσις κατοικεῖ· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ ἀκούετέ τινος πλέον ἢ περὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ λαλοῦντος ἐν ἀληθείᾳ. Eἰώθασιν γάρ τινες δόλῳ πονηρῷ τὸ ὄνομα περιφέρειν, ἄλλα τινὰ πράσσοντες ἀνάξια θεοῦ· οὓς δεῖ ὑμᾶς ὡς θηρία ἐκκλίνειν. Eἰσὶν γὰρ κύνες λυσσῶντες, λαθροδῆκται· οὓς δεῖ ὑμᾶς φυλάσσεσθαι ὄντας δυσθεραπεύτους. Eἷς ἰατρός ἐστιν, σαρκικός τε καὶ πνευματικός, γεννητὸς καὶ ἀγέννητος, ἐν σαρκὶ γενόμενος θεός, ἐν θανάτῳ ζωὴ ἀληθινή, καὶ ἐκ Mαρίας καὶ ἐκ θεοῦ, πρῶτον παθητὸς καὶ τότε ἀπαθής, Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν. Mὴ οὖν τις ὑμᾶς ἐξαπατάτω, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ἐξαπατᾶσθε, ὅλοι ὄντες θεοῦ. Ὅταν γὰρ μηδεμία ἔρις ἐνήρεισται ἐν ὑμῖν ἡ δυναμένη ὑμᾶς βασανίσαι, ἄρα κατὰ θεὸν ζῆτε. Περίψημα ὑμῶν καὶ ἁγνίζομαι ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν Ἐφεσίων, ἐκκλησίας τῆς διαβοήτου τοῖς αἰῶσιν.

Oἱ σαρκικοὶ τὰ πνευματικὰ πράσσειν οὐ δύνανται οὐδὲ οἱ πνευματικοὶ τὰ σαρκικά, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ἡ πίστις τὰ τῆς ἀπιστίας οὐδὲ ἡ ἀπιστία τὰ τῆς πίστεως. Ἂ δὲ καὶ κατὰ σάρκα πράσσετε, ταῦτα πνευματικά ἐστιν· ἐν Ἰησοῦ γὰρ Χριστῷ πάντα πράσσετε. Ἔγνων δὲ παροδεύσαντάς τινας ἐκεῖθεν, ἔχοντας κακὴν διδαχήν· οὓς οὐκ εἰάσατε σπεῖραι εἰς ὑμᾶς, βύσαντες τὰ ὦτα, εἰς τὸ μὴ παραδέξασθαι τὰ σπειρόμενα ὑπ' αὐτῶν, ὡς ὄντες λίθοι ναοῦ πατρός, ἡτοιμασμένοι εἰς οἰκοδομὴν θεοῦ πατρός, ἀναφερόμενοι εἰς τὰ ὕψη διὰ τῆς μηχανῆς Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὅς ἐστιν σταυρός, σχοινίῳ χρώμενοι τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ· ἡ δὲ πίστις ὑμῶν ἀναγωγεὺς ὑμῶν, ἡ δὲ ἀγάπη ὁδὸς ἡ ἀναφέρουσα εἰς θεόν. Ἐστὲ οὖν καὶ σύνοδοι πάντες, θεοφόροι καὶ ναοφόροι, χριστοφόροι, ἁγιοφόροι, κατὰ πάντα κεκοσμημένοι ἐν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· οἷς καὶ ἀγαλλιώμενος ἠξιώθην δι' ὧν γράφω προσομιλῆσαι ὑμῖν καὶ συγχαρῆναι ὅτι κατ' ἄλλον βίον οὐδὲν ἀγαπᾶτε εἰ μὴ μόνον τὸν θεόν. Kαὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἄλλων δὲ ἀνθρώπων «ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθε». Ἔστιν γὰρ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐλπὶς μετανοίας, ἵνα θεοῦ τύχωσιν. Ἐπιτρέψατε οὖν αὐτοῖς κἂν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων ὑμῖν μαθητευθῆναι. Πρὸς τὰς ὀργὰς αὐτῶν ὑμεῖς πραεῖς, πρὸς τὰς μεγαλορημοσύνας αὐτῶν ὑμεῖς ταπεινόφρονες, πρὸς τὰς βλασφημίας αὐτῶν ὑμεῖς τὰς προσευχάς, πρὸς τὴν πλάνην αὐτῶν ὑμεῖς «ἑδραῖοι τῇ πίστει», πρὸς τὸ ἄγριον αὐτῶν ὑμεῖς ἥμεροι, μὴ σπουδάζοντες ἀντιμιμήσασθαι αὐτούς. Ἀδελφοὶ αὐτῶν εὑρεθῶμεν τῇ ἐπιεικείᾳ· «μιμηταὶ» δὲ «τοῦ κυρίου» σπουδάζωμεν εἶναι· τίς πλέον ἀδικηθείς; τίς ἀποστερηθείς; τίς ἀθετηθείς; ἵνα μὴ τοῦ διαβόλου βοτάνη τις εὑρεθῇ ἐν ὑμῖν, ἀλλ' ἐν πάσῃ ἁγνείᾳ καὶ σωφροσύνῃ μένητε ἐν Ἰησοῦ Χριστῷ σαρκικῶς καὶ πνευματικῶς. Ἔσχατοι καιροί. Λοιπὸν αἰσχυνθῶμεν, φοβηθῶμεν τὴν μακροθυμίαν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα μὴ ἡμῖν εἰς κρίμα γένηται. Ἢ γὰρ τὴν μέλλουσαν ὀργὴν φοβηθῶμεν, ἢ τὴν ἐνεστῶσαν χάριν ἀγαπήσωμεν, ἓν τῶν δύο· μόνον ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ εὑρεθῆναι εἰς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ζῆν. Χωρὶς τούτου μηδὲν ὑμῖν πρεπέτω, ἐν ᾧ τὰ δεσμὰ περιφέρω, τοὺς πνευματικοὺς μαργαρίτας, ἐν οἷς γένοιτό μοι ἀναστῆναι τῇ προσευχῇ ὑμῶν, ἧς γένοιτό μοι ἀεὶ μέτοχον εἶναι, ἵνα ἐν κλήρῳ Ἐφεσίων εὑρεθῶ τῶν Χριστιανῶν, οἳ καὶ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις πάντοτε συνῄνεσαν ἐν δυνάμει Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Oἶδα τίς εἰμι καὶ τίσιν γράφω.

Ἐγὼ κατάκριτος, ὑμεῖς ἐλεημένοι· ἐγὼ ὑπὸ κίνδυνον, ὑμεῖς ἐστηριγμένοι. Πάροδός ἐστε τῶν εἰς θεὸν ἀναιρουμένων, Παύλου συμμύσται, τοῦ ἡγιασμένου, τοῦ