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the venomous kiss; and her struggle is how, by the flattery of her words, and the deceit of her appearance, and the assault of her kiss, the beast may spit its venom into the throat of the wretched man. Therefore, she then carries away the mind, and stupefies the senses, and mutilates the ruling faculty itself, and drives the intellect out of its wits; and just as the drugs that are given to men to destroy them, darken the understanding, and drag the whole person into insensibility by the sharpness of the poison, in the same way, the woman through a kiss harms the rational man, who has been subjected to an irrational impulse, and the moving instrument composed of many strings and virtues, the free will, the godlike quality of the soul, through one deceitful word, or the whistling of lips, or a glance of the eyes, she carries about here and there wherever she wishes, like some lifeless instrument, and like a surging sea, she sweeps away the whole body with her impulses.

And then it is possible to see the wretched one, the pitiful one, the one worthy of all pity, the one prudent in understanding, the one expert in the highest knowledge of grammar, and a craftsman of sophistic teaching, the one partaking of medical knowledge, the one experienced in all kinds of letters, or even one who has given himself over to the reading of the divine oracles, and often having chosen the solitary life, and a leader of the Church, like some worthless animal tied with a rope, and tossed here and there; for she has bound him through feigned love, or rather, if the truth must be told, shameful love. And such a one then becomes worthy of a funeral dirge, wept for while living, and mourned when dead. For while living he died, as if dwelling in his own body as in a tomb; and having died, he died a double death, punished by the judgment of the eternal fire of Gehenna. What do you say now, O most wretched of the wretched, O neighbor of wickedness? Where is your venerable conduct? where your supreme education? where the labor of your wisdom? where the dignity of your manners? where the good order? where the sleeping on the ground so often accomplished by you for the sake of philosophy? where your understanding? where your love of God? where your love of Christ? But you became far from these things, cohabiting with an evil beast, or rather you cast yourself into the Tartarus of destruction. For who compelled you to enter into the workshop of lawlessness?

And who compelled you to plunge into her bosom, as into the depth of a raging 30.820 sea? For were you not possessed of free will? You have made yourself self-condemned. Since you were not willing, before the height of the passion, to release from yourself that which is troublesome, you were surely afraid that if cast out she would make a show of your secrets. And why did you entrust to her the secrets well laid up in you? For did they cause you any constraint being kept in the treasures of your wisdom? Then, the one who is scandalized by his own right eye, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, commands to cut out by his own hand the offending member.

But you, do you not cast out from yourself a hostile and contrary thing, which not only scandalizes, but also puts the soul to death? For let her be loved for Christ's sake, as far as a "greeting"; but if she harms the soul, not even a "greeting" to her; only to visit the sick, and not to scandalize the healthy, or in a time of affliction, persecution, or in the church; because we are all one in Christ, but now we are not. Why? because we are not willing, having preferred hatred of the brethren to love of the brethren. Do not scandalize the world, you who have "spiritual wives". For did the Scripture not permit you to marry? You have become a stumbling block both to Jews, and to Greeks, and to the Church of God. Or do you attempt to contradict the holy Scriptures, and provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are you stronger than He? Look to your own weakness,

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τὸ φίλημα ἰοβόλον· καὶ ἀγὼν αὐτῇ, ὅπως τῇ τῶν λόγων κολα κείᾳ, καὶ τῇ τῆς προσόψεως ἀπάτῃ, καὶ τῇ τοῦ φιλήματος προσβολῇ ἐκπτύσῃ τὸ θηρίον τὸν ἰὸν εἰς τὸν τοῦ ἀθλίου λάρυγγα. Παρασύρει γοῦν λοιπὸν τὴν διάνοιαν, καὶ καροῖ τὸ φρόνημα, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ἡγε μονικὸν ἀκρωτηριάζει, καὶ ἐξίστησι τὸν νοῦν· καὶ ὥσπερ τὰ φάρμακα τὰ διδόμενα πρὸς ἀναίρεσιν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, σκοτοῖ τὴν σύνεσιν, καὶ ὅλον τὸν ἄνθρωπον εἰς ἀναισθησίαν παρασύρει τῇ τοῦ δηλητηρίου ἀποτομίᾳ, τῷ αὐτῷ λόγῳ καὶ ἡ γυνὴ διὰ τοῦ φιλήματος καταβλάπτει τὸν λογικὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀλόγῳ ὁρμῇ ὑπαχθέντα, καὶ τὸ διὰ πολλῶν χορδῶν καὶ ἀρετῶν συγκείμενον κινητικὸν ὄργανον, τὸ αὐτ εξούσιον, τὸ θεοειδὲς τῆς ψυχῆς, δι' ἑνὸς δολεροῦ ῥή ματος, ἢ χειλέων συρίσματος, ἢ ὀφθαλμῶν νεύμα τος, ὥσπερ τι ἄψυχον ὄργανον ὧδε κἀκεῖσε ὅπου βούλεται περιφέρει, καὶ ὥσπερ θάλασσα κυμαί νουσα, ὅλον τὸ σῶμα ταῖς αὑτῆς ὁρμαῖς παρασύρει.

Καὶ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν λοιπὸν τὸν ἄθλιον, τὸν ἐλεεινὸν, τὸν παντὸς οἴκτου ἄξιον, τὸν συνετὸν ἐν φρονήσει, τὸν εἰς ἄκρον γραμματικῆς ἐπιστήμης ἔμπειρον, καὶ σοφιστικῆς τεχνίτην διδασκαλίας, τὸν ἰατρικῆς μετ έχοντα ἐπιστήμης, τὸν παντοίων ἔμπειρον γραμμάτων, ἢ καὶ τῶν θείων λόγων ἀναγνώσει ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδεδωκότα, καὶ τὸν μονήρη βίον πολλάκις ἐπαν ελόμενον, καὶ Ἐκκλησίας προὔχοντα, ὥσπερ τι ζῶον εὐτελὲς σχοινίῳ δεδεμένον, καὶ ὧδε κἀκεῖ ῥιπιζόμενον· ἔδησε γὰρ διὰ τῆς ἐπιπλάστου ἀγάπης, μᾶλλον δὲ, εἰ δεῖ τἀληθὲς λέγειν, τῆς αἰσχρᾶς. Καὶ γίνεται λοιπὸν ἐπιταφίου θρήνου ὁ τοιοῦτος ἄξιος, καὶ ζῶν κλαιόμενος, καὶ ἀποθανὼν πενθούμενος. Καὶ γὰρ ζῶν ἀπέθανεν, ὥσπερ ἐν τάφῳ τῷ ἰδίῳ σώματι κατοικῶν· καὶ ἀποθανὼν, δισσῶς ἀπέθανε, κρίσει γεέννης πυρὸς αἰωνίου κολαζόμενος. Τί νῦν λέγεις, ὦ τῶν ἀθλίων ἀθλιώτερε, ὦ τῆς κακίας γεῖτον; Ποῦ σου τὰ σεμνὰ βαδίσματα; ποῦ σου εἰς ἄκρον παιδεία; ποῦ δὲ ὁ τῆς σοφίας κάματος; ποῦ σου τὸ σεμνὸν τῶν τρόπων; ποῦ τὸ εὔτακτον; ποῦ αἱ πλειστάκις ἐπιτελεσθεῖσαι ὑπὸ σοῦ χαμευνίαι τῆς φιλοσοφίας χάριν; ποῦ ἡ σύνεσις; ποῦ τὸ φιλόθεον; ποῦ τὸ φιλόχριστόν σου; Ἀλλὰ τούτων μακρὰν ἐγένου κακῷ θηρίῳ συνοικήσας, μᾶλ λον δὲ ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὸν τῆς ἀπωλείας τάρταρον ἐνέῤ ῥιψας. Τίς γάρ σε ἠνάγκασεν εἰς τὸ τῆς παρανομίας ἐργαστήριον εἰσιέναι;

Τίς δέ σε ἠνάγκασεν εἰς τὸν αὐτῆς κόλπον, ὥσπερ εἰς βυθὸν ἀγριαινούσης 30.820 θαλάσσης εἰσδῦναι; Μὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἦσθα αὐτεξούσιος; Αὐτοκατάκριτον σαυτὸν πεποίηκας. Ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἠβουλήθης πρὸ τῆς τοῦ πάθους ἀκμῆς ἀπολῦσαι ἀπὸ σοῦ τὸ ἀργαλέον, πάντως που ηὐλαβήθης μή σου τὰ μυστήρια θριαμβεύσῃ ἐκβληθεῖσα. Τί δὲ αὐτῇ καὶ ἀνετίθου μυστήρια τὰ ἐν σοὶ καλῶς ἀπο κείμενα; Μὴ γὰρ στενοχωρίαν παρεῖχέ σοι ἐν θη σαυροῖς σοφίας σου φυλαττόμενα; Εἶτα τὸν μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου δεξιοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ σκανδαλιζόμενον, παρα κελεύεται ὁ Σωτὴρ καὶ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χρι στὸς ὁ μονογενὴς Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ, αὐτὸν δι' ἑαυτοῦ ἐκκόπτειν τὸ σκανδαλίζον μέλος.

Σὺ δὲ ἐχθρὸν καὶ ἐναντίον πρᾶγμα, τὸ μὴ μόνον σκανδαλίζον, ἀλλὰ καὶ θανατοῦν τὴν ψυχὴν, οὐκ ἐκβάλλεις ἀπὸ σοῦ; Ἀγαπητὴ γὰρ ἤτω διὰ Χριστὸν ἕως τοῦ χαίρειν· ἐὰν δὲ βλάπτῃ ψυχὴν, μηδὲ τὸ χαίρειν αὐτῇ· μόνον ἐπισκέψασθαι ἀσθενοῦντα, καὶ μὴ τὸν ὑγιαίνοντα σκανδαλίσαι, ἢ ἐν καιρῷ θλίψεως, διωγμοῦ, ἢ ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ· ἐπειδὴ πάντες εἷς ἐσμεν ἐν Χριστῷ, ἀλλὰ νῦν οὐκ ἐσμέν. ∆ιὰ τί; ἐπειδὴ ἡμεῖς οὐ βου λόμεθα, προτιμήσαντες τὴν μισαδελφίαν τῆς φιλ αδελφίας. Μὴ σκανδαλίζετε τὸν κόσμον, οἱ τὰς συν εισάκτους ἔχοντες. Μὴ γὰρ γῆμαί σε ἡ Γραφὴ οὐκ ἐπέτρεψε; Γεγόνατε καὶ Ἰουδαίοις, καὶ Ἕλλησι, καὶ τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρόσκομμα. Ἢ ἀντιπίπτειν ταῖς ἁγίαις Γραφαῖς ἐπιχειρεῖτε, καὶ παραζηλοῦτε τὸν Κύριον; Μὴ ἰσχυρότεροι αὐτοῦ ἐστε; Ἐμβλέψατε εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀσθένειαν,