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of martyrdom, they had recourse to the alliance of demons. For if they did that out of a rejection of the faith and in order not to believe in the God worshipped by Christians, they shall clearly be subject to the judgment of transgressors. But if some unbearable necessity, overpowering their faintheartedness, led them to this, having been deluded by some deceitful hope, so also will loving-kindness be upon them, in the same manner as for those who were unable to withstand tortures at the time of their confession. Of the sins that occur through desire and pleasure, the division is as follows: for one is called adultery, and the other fornication. To some of the more scrupulous, therefore, it has seemed right to consider even the offense of fornication to be adultery, because there is one lawful union, both for a woman to a man, and for a man to a woman. Therefore, anything that is not lawful is certainly unlawful, and he who does not have his own, clearly has what is another's; for to the man one helpmate has been given by God, and to the woman one head has been fitted. Therefore, if one acquires for himself his own vessel, as the divine Apostle names it, the law of nature allows its righteous use.

But if one should turn outside of his own, he will certainly be in what is another's; and to each, everything that is not his own is another's, even if it does not have an acknowledged master. Therefore, fornication has also been shown not to be far from the offense of adultery to those who examine the matter more scrupulously, as the divine Scripture also says: "Do not be much with a strange woman"; but since there has been some condescension from the Fathers for the weaker, the offense was distinguished by this general division, such that fornication is and is called the fulfillment of desire for some without injustice to another; while adultery is the plotting against and the injustice toward what is another's. And in this category they also reckon bestiality and pederasty; because these too are adultery against nature. For the injustice is done both to what is another's and against nature. Since, therefore, this division has been made also in this kind of sin, the universal cure is for a man to become pure from the impassioned madness concerning such pleasures, through repentance; but in the case of those defiled by fornication, no injustice is mixed with this sin; for this reason a double time of penance was appointed for those stained by adultery, and by the other forbidden evils, both bestiality and the madness concerning males; for the sin, as I said, is doubled in such cases. One consists in the injustice against what is another's. But there is a certain difference in the rule of repentance, also for those who sin for pleasure 45.229, as follows. For the one who on his own initiative proceeds to the confession of his sin, by the very fact of accepting through his own impulse to become an accuser of his hidden things, as one who has already begun the cure of his passion and has shown a sign of his change for the better, receives more lenient penances. But the one who is caught in the act of evil, or who is unwillingly convicted through some suspicion or accusation, is under a prolonged penance, so that having been purified through rigor, he may thus be admitted to the communion of the holy things. The canon, therefore, is such, that those who have been defiled by fornication are for three years to be altogether excluded from prayer; for three years they are to participate only in the hearing, for another three years they are to pray with those prostrating in penance, and then to partake of the holy things. But for those who undertake their penance more earnestly, and who show by their life their return to the good, it is permitted to the one who administers the ecclesiastical economy for the common good to shorten the time of hearing, and to bring them more quickly to penance, and again to shorten this time also, and to restore communion more quickly, as he may judge the condition of the one being healed by his own examination.

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μαρτυρίου, τῇ τῶν δαιμόνων συμμαχίᾳ προσ έδραμον. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἀθετήσει τῆς πίστεως καὶ πρὸς τὸ μὴ πιστεύειν εἶναι Θεὸν τὸν παρὰ τῶν Χριστιανῶν προσκυνούμενον, ἐκεῖνο ἐποίησαν, δηλαδὴ τῷ κρί ματι τῶν παραβάντων ὑπαχθήσονται. Εἰ δέ τις ἀβά στακτος ἀνάγκη κατακρατήσασα τῆς μικροψυχίας αὐτῶν, εἰς τοῦτο προσήγαγε διά τινος ἠπατημένης ἐλπίδος παρακρουσθέντας, ὡσαύτως ἔσται καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῶν ἡ φιλανθρωπία, καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῶν πρὸς τὰς βασάνους ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ὁμολογίας ἀντισχεῖν μὴ δυνηθέντων. Τῶν δὲ δι' ἐπιθυμίαν τε καὶ ἡδονὴν γινομένων ἁμαρτημάτων τοιαύτη ἐστὶν ἡ διαίρεσις· τὸ μὲν γὰρ καλεῖται μοιχεία, τὸ δὲ πορνεία. Τισὶ μὲν οὖν τῶν ἀκριβεστέρων ἤρεσε καὶ τὸ κατὰ πορνείαν πλημμέλημα, μοιχείαν εἶναι νομίζειν, διότι μία ἐστὶν ἡ νό μιμος συζυγία, καὶ γυναικὶ πρὸς ἄνδρα, καὶ ἀνδρὶ πρὸς γυναῖκα. Πᾶν οὖν τὸ μὴ νόμιμον παράνομον πάντως, καὶ ὁ μὴ τὸ ἴδιον ἔχων, δηλαδὴ τὸ ἀλλό τριον ἔχει· τῷ γὰρ ἀνθρώπῳ μία δέδοται παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ βοηθὸς, καὶ τῇ γυναικὶ μία ἐφήρμοσται κεφα λή. Οὐκοῦν εἰ μέν τις τὸ ἴδιον αὐτοῦ σκεῦος, κα θὼς ὀνομάζει ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, ἑαυτῷ κτήσαιτο, συγχωρεῖ ὁ νόμος τῆς φύσεως τὴν δικαίαν χρῆσιν.

Εἰ δέ τις ἔξω τοῦ ἰδίου τραπείη, ἐν ἀλλοτρίῳ πάντως γενήσεται· ἀλλότριον δὲ ἑκάστῳ πᾶν τὸ μὴ ἴδιον, κἂν μὴ ὁμολογούμενον ἔχει τὸν κυριεύοντα. Οὔκουν πόῤῥω τοῦ κατὰ τὴν μοιχείαν πλημμελήματος, καὶ ἡ πορνεία τοῖς τὸν ἀκριβέστερον ἐξετάζουσι λόγον ἐδείχθη, λεγούσης καὶ τῆς θείας Γραφῆς· ὅτι Μὴ πολὺς ἴσθι πρὸς ἀλλοτρίαν· πλὴν ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τοῖς ἀσθενεστέροις ἐγένετό τις παρὰ τῶν Πατέρων συμ περιφορὰ, διεκρίθη τὸ πλημμέλημα τῇ γενικῇ διαι ρέσει ταύτῃ, ὡς πορνείαν μὲν εἶναι καὶ λέγεσθαι, τὴν χωρὶς ἀδικίας ἑτέρου γινομένην τισὶ τῆς ἐπιθυ μίας ἐκπλήρωσιν· μοιχείαν δὲ, τὴν ἐπιβουλήν τε καὶ τὴν ἀδικίαν τοῦ ἀλλοτρίου. Ἐν ταύτῃ δὲ καὶ τὴν ζωοφθορίαν καὶ τὴν παιδεραστίαν εἶναι λογίζονται· διότι καὶ ταῦτα φύσεώς ἐστι μοιχεία. Εἰς γὰρ τὸ ἀλ λότριόν τε καὶ παρὰ φύσιν γίνεται ἡ ἀδικία. Ταύτης τοίνυν τῆς διαιρέσεως καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τῷ εἴδει τῆς ἁμαρ τίας γεγενημένης, καθολικὴ μέν ἐστι θεραπεία, τὸ τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς λύσσης, τῆς περὶ τὰς τοιαύτας ἡδονὰς, καθαρὸν ἐκ μεταμελείας γενέσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν ἐν πορνείᾳ μολυνθέντων ἀδικία τις τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ταύτῃ οὐ καταμέμικται· διὰ τοῦτο διπλάσιον ὡρίσθη τῆς ἐπιστροφῆς ὁ χρόνος τοῖς ἐν μοιχείᾳ μιαν θεῖσι, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς ἀπηγορευμένοις κακοῖς, ζωοφθορίᾳ τε καὶ τῇ κατὰ τοὺς ἄῤῥενας λύσσῃ· δι πλασιάζεται γὰρ, ὡς εἶπον, ἐπὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἡ ἁμαρτία. Μία μὲν ἡ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀλλοτρίου ἀδικίαν συνισταμένη. ∆ιαφορὰ δέ τίς ἐστιν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς μετανοίας, καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ ἡδονὴν πλημμελούντων 45.229 τοιαύτη. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἐξαγό ρευσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁρμήσας, αὐτῷ τῷ καταδέξα σθαι δι' οἰκείας ὁρμῆς γενέσθαι τῶν κρυφίων κατ ήγορος· ὡς ἤδη τῆς θεραπείας τοῦ πάθους ἀρξάμε νος, καὶ σημεῖον τῆς πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μεταβολῆς ἐπιδειξάμενος, ἐν φιλανθρωποτέροις γίνεται τοῖς ἐπιτιμίοις. Ὁ δὲ φωραθεὶς ἐπὶ τῷ κακῷ, ἢ διά τινος ὑποψίας ἢ κατηγορίας ἀκουσίως ἀπελεγχθεὶς, ἐν ἐπιτεταμένῃ γίνεται τῇ ἐπιστροφῇ· ὥστε καθαρι σθέντα δι' ἀκριβείας αὐτὸν, οὕτως ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἁγια σμάτων κοινωνίαν παραδεχθῆναι. Ἔστι τοίνυν ὁ κα νὼν τοιοῦτος, ὥστε τοὺς ἐν πορνείᾳ μολυνθέντας, ἐν τρισὶ μὲν ἔτεσι καθόλου τῆς εὐχῆς ἀποβλήτους εἶναι· ἐν τρισὶ δὲ τῆς ἀκροάσεως μετέχειν μόνης, ἐν ἄλλοις δὲ τρισὶν ἔτεσι μετὰ τῶν ἐν τῇ ἐπιστροφῇ ὑποπι πτόντων προσεύχεσθαι, καὶ τότε μετέχειν τῶν ἁγια σμάτων. Ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν σπουδαιότερον κεχρημένων τῇ ἐπιστροφῇ, καὶ τῷ βίῳ δεικνύντων τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἐπάνοδον, ἔξεστι τῷ οἰκονομοῦντι πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν οἰκονομίαν, συντεμεῖν τὸν χρόνον τῆς ἀκροάσεως, καὶ τάχιον εἰς ἐπιστρο φὴν ἀγαγεῖν, καὶ πάλιν καὶ τοῦτον συντεμεῖν τὸν χρόνον, καὶ τάχιον ἀποδοῦναι τὴν κοινωνίαν, ὅπως ἂν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ δοκιμασίᾳ ἐκκρίνῃ τὴν τοῦ θεραπευο μένου κατάστασιν.