Chapter II.—Our Instructor’s Treatment of Our Sins.

Now, O you, my children, our Instructor is like His Father God, whose son He is, sinless, blameless, and with a soul devoid of passion; God in the form of man, stainless, the minister of His Father’s will, the Word who is God, who is in the Father, who is at the Father’s right hand, and with the form of God is God. He is to us a spotless image; to Him we are to try with all our might to assimilate our souls. He is wholly free from human passions; wherefore also He alone is judge, because He alone is sinless. As far, however, as we can, let us try to sin as little as possible. For nothing is so urgent in the first place as deliverance from passions and disorders, and then the checking of our liability to fall into sins that have become habitual. It is best, therefore, not to sin at all in any way, which we assert to be the prerogative of God alone; next to keep clear of voluntary transgressions, which is characteristic of the wise man; thirdly, not to fall into many involuntary offences, which is peculiar to those who have been excellently trained. Not to continue long in sins, let that be ranked last. But this also is salutary to those who are called back to repentance, to renew the contest.

And the Instructor, as I think, very beautifully says, through Moses: “If any one die suddenly by him, straightway the head of his consecration shall be polluted, and shall be shaved,”4    Num. vi. 9.    Prov. xxiii. 3. designating involuntary sin as sudden death. And He says that it pollutes by defiling the soul: wherefore He prescribes the cure with all speed, advising the head to be instantly shaven; that is, counselling the locks of ignorance which shade the reason to be shorn clean off, that reason (whose seat is in the brain), being left bare of the dense stuff of vice, may speed its way to repentance. Then after a few remarks He adds, “The days before are not reckoned irrational,”5    Num. vi. 12.    1 Cor. vi. 13. by which manifestly sins are meant which are contrary to reason. The involuntary act He calls “sudden,” the sin He calls “irrational.” Wherefore the Word, the Instructor, has taken the charge of us, in order to the prevention of sin, which is contrary to reason.

Hence consider the expression of Scripture, “Therefore these things saith the Lord;” the sin that had been committed before is held up to reprobation by the succeeding expression “therefore,” according to which the righteous judgment follows. This is shown conspicuously by the prophets, when they said, “Hadst thou not sinned, He would not have uttered these threatenings.” “Therefore thus saith the Lord;” “Because thou hast not heard these words, therefore these things the Lord;” and, “Therefore, behold, the Lord saith.” For prophecy is given by reason both of obedience and disobedience: for obedience, that we may be saved; for disobedience, that we may be corrected.

Our Instructor, the Word, therefore cures the unnatural passions of the soul by means of exhortations. For with the highest propriety the help of bodily diseases is called the healing art—an art acquired by human skill. But the paternal Word is the only Pæonian physician of human infirmities, and the holy charmer of the sick soul. “Save,” it is said, “Thy servant, O my God, who trusteth in Thee. Pity me, O Lord; for I will cry to Thee all the day.”6    Ps. lxxxvi. 2, 3.    1 Cor. vi. 13. For a while the “physician’s art,” according to Democritus, “heals the diseases of the body; wisdom frees the soul from passion.” But the good Instructor, the Wisdom, the Word of the Father, who made man, cares for the whole nature of His creature; the all-sufficient Physician of humanity, the Saviour, heals both body and soul. “Rise up,” He said to the paralytic; “take the bed on which thou liest, and go away home;”7    Mark ii. 11.    ὄθεν, an emendation for ὄν. and straightway the infirm man received strength. And to the dead He said, “Lazarus, go forth;”8    John xi. 43.    Love, or love-feast, a name applied by the ancients to public entertainments. [But surely he is here rebuking, with St. Jude (v. 12), abuses of the Christian agapæ by heretics and others.] and the dead man issued from his coffin such as he was ere he died, having undergone resurrection. Further, He heals the soul itself by precepts and gifts—by precepts indeed, in course of time, but being liberal in His gifts, He says to us sinners, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.”9    Matt. ix. 2.    Luke xiv. 8, 10.

We, however, as soon as He conceived the thought, became His children, having had assigned us the best and most secure rank by His orderly arrangement, which first circles about the world, the heavens, and the sun’s circuits, and occupies itself with the motions of the rest of the stars for man’s behoof, and then busies itself with man himself, on whom all its care is concentrated; and regarding him as its greatest work, regulated his soul by wisdom and temperance, and tempered the body with beauty and proportion. And whatever in human actions is right and regular, is the result of the inspiration of its rectitude and order.

Ὅτι διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν ὁ παιδαγωγὸς ἐπιστατεῖ. Ἔοικεν δὲ ὁ παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν, ὦ παῖδες ὑμεῖς, τῷ πατρὶ τῷ αὑτοῦ τῷ θεῷ, οὗπέρ ἐστιν υἱός, ἀναμάρτητος, ἀνεπίληπτος καὶ ἀπαθὴς τὴν ψυχήν, θεὸς ἐν ἀνθρώπου σχήματι ἄχραντος, πατρικῷ θελήματι διάκονος, λόγος θεός, ὁ ἐν τῷ πατρί, ὁ ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ πατρός, σὺν καὶ τῷ σχήματι θεός· οὗτος ἡμῖν εἰκὼν ἡ ἀκηλίδωτος, τούτῳ παντὶ σθένει πειρατέον ἐξομοιοῦν τὴν ψυχήν· ἀλλ' ὃ μὲν ἀπόλυτος εἰς τὸ παντελὲς ἀνθρωπίνων παθῶν, διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ μόνος κριτής, ὅτι ἀναμάρτητος μόνος· ἡμεῖς δέ, ὅση δύναμις, ὡς ὅτι ἐλάχιστα ἁμαρτάνειν πειρώμεθα· κατεπείγει γὰρ οὐδὲν τοσοῦτον ὡς ἡ τῶν παθῶν καὶ νοσημάτων ἀπαλλαγὴ πρῶτον, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ ἡ κώλυσις τῆς εἰς τὴν συνήθειαν τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων εὐεμπτωσίας. Ἄριστον μὲν οὖν τὸ μηδ' ὅλως ἐξαμαρτάνειν κατὰ μηδένα τρόπον, ὃ δή φαμεν εἶναι θεοῦ· δεύτερον δὲ τὸ μηδενὸς τῶν κατὰ γνώμην ἐφάψασθαί ποτε ἀδικημάτων, ὅπερ οἰκεῖον σοφοῦ· τρίτον δὲ τὸ μὴ πάνυ πολλοῖς τῶν ἀκουσίων περιπεσεῖν, ὅπερ ἴδιον παι δαγωγουμένων εὐγενῶς· τὸ δὲ μὴ ἐπὶ μήκιστον διατρῖψαι τοῖς ἁμαρτήμασι τελευταῖον τετάχθω· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο δὲ τοῖς εἰς μετάνοιαν ἀνακαλουμένοις ἀναμαχέσασθαι σωτήριον. Καί μοι δοκεῖ παγκάλως διὰ Μωσέως φάσκειν ὁ παιδαγωγός ἐάν τις ἀποθάνῃ ἐπ' αὐτῷ αἰφνίδιον, παραχρῆμα μιανθήσεται ἡ κεφαλὴ εὐχῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ ξυρήσεται, τὴν ἀκούσιον ἁμαρτίαν αἰφνίδιον θάνατον προσειπών· μιαίνειν δὲ αὐτὸν λέγει κηλιδοῦντα τὴν ψυχήν· διὸ καὶ τὴν θεραπείαν ᾗ τάχος ὑποτίθεται ξυρᾶσθαι παραχρῆμα τὴν κεφαλὴν συμβουλεύων, τὰς ἐπισκιαζούσας τῷ λογισμῷ τῆς ἀγνοίας κόμας ἀποψήξασθαι παραινῶν, ὡς γυμνὸν δασείας καταλειφθέντα ὕλης, τῆς κακίας, τὸν λογισμόν, ἐνθρονίζεται δὲ οὗτος ἐν ἐγκεφάλῳ, ἐπὶ τὴν μετάνοιαν παλινδρομῆσαι. Ἔπειτα ὀλίγα προσειπὼν ἐπιφέρει αἱ δὲ ἡμέραι αἱ πρότεραι ἄλογοι, δι' ὧν δῆλον ὅτι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι μηνύονται αἱ μὴ γεγονυῖαι κατὰ λόγον. Καὶ τὸ μὲν ἀκούσιον αἰφνίδιον προσεῖπεν, τὸ δὲ ἁμαρτάνειν ἄλογον. Οὗ δὴ χάριν ὁ λόγος ὁ παιδαγωγὸς τὴν ἐπιστασίαν εἴληχεν εἰς τὴν ἀλόγου κώλυσιν ἁμαρτίας. Σκόπει δὲ ἐνθένδε ἀπὸ τῆς γραφῆς διὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει κύριος· τὸ ἁμάρτημα ἐλεγκτικῶς τὸ προυπάρξαν διὰ τῆς ἑπομένης δείκνυται ῥήσεως, καθὸ ἡ δικαία κρίσις ἕπεται, καὶ τοῦτο ἐμφανῶς διὰ τῶν προφητῶν καταφαίνεται, ὡς, εἰ μὴ ἥμαρτες, λεγόντων, οὐκ ἂν τάδε ἠπείλησεν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὕτως λέγει κύριος καὶ ἀνθ' ὧν οὐκ ἠκούσατε τῶν λόγων τούτων, διὰ τοῦτο τάδε λέγει κύριος καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἰδοὺ λέγει κύριος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ προφητεία, δι' ὑπακοὴν καὶ παρακοήν, δι' ἣν μὲν ἵνα σωθῶμεν, δι' ἣν δὲ ἵνα παιδευθῶμεν. Ἔστιν οὖν ὁ παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν λόγος διὰ παραινέσεων θεραπευτικὸς τῶν παρὰ φύσιν τῆς ψυχῆς παθῶν. Κυρίως μὲν γὰρ ἡ τῶν τοῦ σώματος νοσημάτων βοήθεια ἰατρικὴ καλεῖται, τέχνη ἀνθρωπίνῃ σοφίᾳ διδακτή. Λόγος δὲ ὁ πατρικὸς μόνος ἐστὶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἰατρὸς ἀρρωστημάτων παιώνιος καὶ ἐπῳδὸς ἅγιος νοσούσης ψυχῆς. Σῶσον τὸν δοῦλόν σου, φησίν, ὁ θεός μου, τὸν ἐλπίζοντα ἐπὶ σοί· ἐλέησόν με, κύριε, ὅτι πρὸς σὲ κεκράξομαι ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν. Ἰατρικὴ μὲν γὰρ κατὰ ∆ημόκριτον σώματος νόσους ἀκέεται, σοφίη δὲ ψυχὴν παθῶν ἀφαιρεῖται· ὁ δὲ ἀγαθὸς παιδαγωγός, ἡ σοφία, ὁ λόγος τοῦ πατρός, ὁ δημιουργήσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὅλου κήδεται τοῦ πλάσματος, καὶ σῶμα καὶ ψυχὴν ἀκεῖται αὐτοῦ ὁ πανακὴς τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ἰατρός. Ὁ σωτὴρ ἀνάστα, φησὶ τῷ παρειμένῳ, τὸν σκίμποδα ἐφ' ὃν κατάκεισαι λαβὼν ἄπιθι οἴκαδε. Παραχρῆμα δὲ ὁ ἄρρωστος ἐρρώσθη. Καὶ τῷ τεθνεῶτι Λάζαρε, εἶπεν, ἔξιθι· ὃ δὲ ἐξῆλθεν τῆς σοροῦ, ὁ νεκρός, οἷος ἦν πρὶν ἢ παθεῖν, μελετήσας τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Ναὶ μὴν καὶ καθ' αὑτὴν ἰᾶται τὴν ψυχὴν ἐντολαῖς καὶ χαρίσμασιν, ἀλλὰ ταῖς μὲν ὑποθήκαις τάχα δὴ μέλλει· χαρίσμασι δὲ πλούσιος ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς ἡμῖν λέγει. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἅμα νοήματι νήπιοι γεγόναμεν, τὴν ἀρίστην καὶ βεβαιοτάτην τάξιν παρὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ εὐταξίας μεταλαμβάνοντες, ἣ πρῶτον μὲν ἀμφὶ τὸν κόσμον καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν τάς τε ἡλιακὰς περιδινήσεις κύκλους τε καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἄστρων τὰς φορὰς ἀσχολεῖται διὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἔπειτα δὲ περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον αὐτόν, περὶ ὃν ἡ πᾶσα σπουδὴ καταγίνεται· καὶ τοῦτον ἔργον ἡγουμένη μέγιστον, ψυχὴν μὲν αὐτοῦ φρονήσει καὶ σωφροσύνῃ κατηύθυνεν, τὸ δὲ σῶμα κάλλει καὶ εὐρυθμίᾳ συνεκεράσατο, περὶ δὲ τὰς πράξεις τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος τό τε ἐν αὐταῖς κατορθοῦν καὶ τὸ εὔτακτον ἐνέπνευσεν τὸ αὑτῆς.