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to his own possessions, he is not my disciple, and If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and the rest; and He did not add, If anyone does not renounce my church or my mysteries, he is not my disciple. For it is clear that He taught us through His economy in the flesh first to renounce the devil and his idols and all his error, and to align ourselves with Him alone through His church and mysteries. Did you make the first renunciation or the second? The first is abstinence from idols, the second is contempt for money and disdain for all carnal pleasure. Let us see, then, which renunciation you speak of—that of money. And who is so enslaved to the passion of love of money as the heretics? For not only do they hold securely the money that falls to them, but they also become managers and treasurers of others’ money as if it were their own, and they gather interest and surplus, and while they provide money for others, they themselves profit from iniquities, only so that they may increase the passion of greed. For no one has ever heard that a heretic, having sold all his possessions, has given to the poor and become a doer of this commandment. Therefore, you have renounced only the saints; you have learned only this from your continence and renunciation: not to know your priest who always feeds you with the mystical and holy food, having made no great progress. For if you call this progress, even the mad reach this point; for they too, when they are overcome by this passion, are ignorant of those who bore them, they do not recognize a brother, they do not remember benefits, but even if someone wishes to help, he is considered by them an enemy and a foe, and when asked by their own people to state the cause of their distress, they utter inarticulate and incoherent things and have nothing to say. It is clear, then, that the apostates from the church are also possessed by the passion of madness, insulting everyone, keeping themselves apart, calling the father who begot them an adulterer, considering their mother a prostitute, not keeping the commandment of God which says, He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death. But perhaps making an excuse he will say: "I revile my carnal parents." Not even this do you do well; for the law says this and our Lord Jesus Christ seals it; for reproaching the Jews he says, when they accused him saying: Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders and eat with unwashed hands, the Lord says to this: Why do you also transgress the commandment of God and your tradition? For God said: honor your father and your mother, and he who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death. Do you see how he sealed the commandment, or rather the law of nature, through his own word? And it were possible to say many things about honor and fear of parents, but both the Old and New Testament bearing witness on this is sufficient. But let us see if they even honor their spiritual parents. Who then is the spiritual father? Certainly after God, the priest who baptized you; for it is written: In Christ Jesus through the gospel I have begotten you, and Behold I and the children whom you, God, have given me; and to those who have fallen, My little children, he says, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ is formed in you. Which we also pray may happen to them; and the mother is certainly the church and the one who raised them. Does the heretic, then, know these, does he know the benefit from them, that through them he fled the tyranny of the devil, through them he was named a Christian? What am I saying, a Christian? He put on Christ himself; for the scripture says: As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ; only if you have not been stripped again by the serpent. What then to these things? Do you know them, or have you denied these also? And what will you do? For if you dishonored those who bore you according to the flesh, you have denied those who regenerated you through the washing of regeneration, from whence the

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τοῖς ὑπάρχουσιν αὐτῷ, οὐκ ἔστι μου μαθητής, καὶ Εἰ θέλεις τέλειος εἶναι, ὕπαγε πώλησόν σου τὰ ὑπάρχοντα καὶ δὸς πτωχοῖς καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· καὶ οὐ προσέθηκεν Εἴ τις οὐκ ἀποτάσσεται τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ μου ἢ τοῖς μυστηρίοις μου, οὐκ ἔστι μου μαθητής. ∆ῆλον γὰρ ὅτι ἐδίδαξεν ἡμᾶς διὰ τῆς ἐνσάρκου αὐτοῦ οἰκονομίας πρῶτον ἀποτάσσεσθαι τῷ διαβόλῳ καὶ τοῖς εἰδώλοις αὐτοῦ καὶ πάσῃ τῇ πλάνῃ αὐτοῦ, καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ συντάσσεσθαι διὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν μυστηρίων. Τὴν πρώτην ἀποταγὴν ἀπετάξω ἢ τὴν δευτέραν; Ἡ πρώτη εἰδώλων ἐστὶν ἀποχή, ἡ δευτέρα χρημάτων ἐστὶ καταφρόνησις καὶ πάσης σαρκικῆς ἡδονῆς ὑπεροψία. Ἴδωμεν οὖν ποίαν λέγεις ἀπόταξιν τὴν τῶν χρημάτων. Καὶ τίς οὕτως δεδούλωται τῷ πάθει τῆς φιλαργυρίας ὡς οἱ αἱρετικοί; Οὐ μόνον γὰρ τὰ αὐτοῖς ἐμπίπτοντα χρήματα μετὰ ἀσφαλείας κατέχουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ὡς οἰκείων φρονισταὶ καὶ ταμεῖα γίνονται καὶ τόκους καὶ πλεονασμοὺς συνάγουσι καὶ ἄλλοις μὲν τὰ χρήματα προσπορίζουσι, αὐτοὶ δὲ τὰς ἀνομίας κερδαίνουσι, μόνον ἵνα τὸ πάθος τῆς πλεονεξίας αὐξήσωσιν. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἤκουσέ ποτε ὅτι αἱρετικὸς πάντα πωλήσας τὰ προσόντα αὐτῷ δέδωκε πτωχοῖς καὶ ποιητὴς τῆς ἐντολῆς ταύτης γέγονε. Μόνοις οὖν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀπετάξω, μόνον τοῦτο ἐδιδάχθης παρὰ τῆς σῆς ἐγκρατείας καὶ τῆς ἀποτάξεως τὸ μὴ γινώσκειν τὸν ἱερέα σου τὸν ἀεὶ τρέφοντά σε διὰ τῆς μυστικῆς καὶ ἁγίας τροφῆς, οὐδὲν μέγα προκόψας. Εἰ γὰρ ταύτην προκοπὴν λέγεις, εἰς ταύτην φθάνουσι καὶ οἱ μαινόμενοι· κἀκεῖνοι γάρ, ὅταν ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους τούτου κρατηθῶσιν, ἀγνοοῦσι τοὺς γεννήσαντας, οὐκ ἐπιγινώ σκουσιν ἀδελφόν, οὐ μέμνηνται εὐεργεσιῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐάν τις θέλῃ βοηθῆσαι, ὡς ἐχθρὸς καὶ πολέμιος ὑπολαμβάνεται παρ' αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐρωτώμενοι παρὰ τῶν ἰδίων τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς λύπης εἰπεῖν ἄναρθρα καὶ ἀνακόλουθα φθεγγόμενοι οὐδὲν ἔχουσι. ∆ῆλον οὖν ὅτι τῷ πάθει τῆς μανίας κατέχονται καὶ οἱ ἀποστάται τῆς ἐκκλη σίας ἐνυβρίζοντες πρὸς πάντας, ἀπεχόμενοι, τὸν πατέρα τὸν γεννήσαντα μοιχὸν ἀποκαλοῦντες, τὴν μητέρα πόρνην νομίζον τες, μὴ τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ θεοῦ φυλάττοντες τὴν λέγουσαν Ὁ κακολογῶν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα θανάτῳ τελευτάτω. Ἀλλ' ἴσως προφασιζόμενος ἐρεῖ· «Τοὺς σαρκικοὺς γονεῖς λοιδορῶ «. Οὐδὲ τοῦτο καλῶς ποιεῖς· ὁ νόμος γὰρ τοῦτο λέγει καὶ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς τοῦτο ἐπισφραγίζεται· μεμφόμενος γὰρ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις λέγει, ὅτε ἐνεκάλουν αὐτῷ λέγοντες· ∆ιὰ τί οἱ μαθηταί σου παραβαίνουσι τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καὶ ἀνίπτοις χερσὶν ἐσθίουσι, λέγει ὁ κύριος πρὸς τοῦτο· ∆ιὰ τί καὶ ὑμεῖς παραβαίνετε τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν παράδοσιν ὑμῶν; Ὁ γὰρ θεὸς εἶπε· τίμα τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ τὴν μητέρα σου, καὶ ὁ κακολογῶν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα θανάτῳ τελευτάτω. Ὁρᾷς πῶς ἐσφράγισε τὴν ἐντολήν, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸν τῆς φύσεως νόμον διὰ τοῦ οἰκείου λόγου; Καὶ ἦν εἰπεῖν πολλὰ περὶ τιμῆς καὶ φόβου γονέων, ἀλλ' ἀρκεῖ περὶ τούτου μαρτυροῦσα ἥ τε παλαιὰ καὶ καινὴ διαθήκη. Ἴδωμεν δὲ εἰ κἂν τοὺς πνευματικοὺς γονέας τιμῶσι. Τίς οὖν ἐστιν ὁ πνευματικὸς πατήρ; Πάντως μετὰ τὸν θεὸν ὁ ἱερεὺς ὁ βαπτίσας σε· γέγραπται γάρ· Ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ διὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἐγὼ ὑμᾶς ἐγέννησα, καὶ Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ παιδία ἃ ἔδωκάς μοι σὺ ὁ θεός· καὶ πρὸς τοὺς καταπεσόντας Τεκνία μου, φησίν, οὓς πάλιν ὤδινον, ἄχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν. Ὃ καὶ εὐχόμεθα καὶ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς γενέσθαι· καὶ ἡ μήτηρ δὲ πάντως ἡ ἐκκλησία καὶ ἡ ἀναθρεψαμένη. Ἆρ' οὖν ὁ αἱρετικὸς γνωρίζει τούτους, γινώσκει τὴν ἀπ' αὐτῶν ὠφέλειαν, ὅτι διὰ τούτων ἔφυγε τὴν τυραννίδα τοῦ διαβόλου, δι' αὐτῶν χριστιανὸς ὠνομάσθη; Τί λέγω χριστιανός; Αὐτὸν τὸν Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσατο· λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή· Ὅσοι εἰς Χριστὸν ἐβαπτίσθητε, Χριστὸν ἐνεδύσασθε· μόνον εἰ μὴ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄφεως πάλιν ἐξεδύθης. Τί οὖν πρὸς ταῦτα; Γνωρίζεις τούτους ἢ καὶ τούτους ἠρνήσω; Καὶ τί ποιήσεις; Εἰ γὰρ τοὺς κατὰ σάρκα γεννήσαντάς σε ἠτίμησας, τοὺς ἀναγεννήσαντάς σε διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας ἀπηρνήσω, πόθεν ἡ