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and turns the light-minded from the faith? For what do you lack in the Law of God, that you should rush to those gentile fables? For if you wish to go through historical accounts, you have the books of Kings; if you wish for sophistic and poetic works, you have the Prophets, Job, the Proverbialist, in which you will find more sagacity than in all poetry and sophistry, because they are the utterances of the Lord, the only wise God. If you desire songs, you have the Psalms; if ancient origins, you have Genesis; if laws and commands, the glorious Law of the Lord God. Therefore of all things foreign and diabolical strongly abstain. But when you read the Law, abstain from the additions in it, if not from all, then at least from some of the deuterosis; but read it only for its history, so that you may know and glorify God, that from such and so many bonds He has delivered you. And let it be before your eyes to know, what is the natural law and what are the things of the deuterosis, the additions given in the wilderness to those who made the calf. For the Law is what the Lord God spoke before the people committed idolatry, that is, the Decalogue; but the bonds which were laid on them when they sinned, do not draw upon yourself. For our Savior came for no other reason than to fulfill the Law and the Prophets and either to abolish or transfer the bonds of the deuterosis of the additions; for this reason, calling us, He said: "Come all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." You therefore, having read the Law which is in harmony with the Gospel and the Prophets, read also the books of Kings, so that you may know how many righteous kings there were and how they were exalted by God, and the promise of eternal life remained with them from Him, and how many kings committed fornication away from God, in their apostasy they were swiftly destroyed by the righteous judgment of God and were deprived of His life, inheriting eternal punishment instead of rest. Reading these things, therefore, being much increased in faith, you will be built up in Christ, whose body and member you are. And walking in the marketplace and wishing to bathe, you shall use a men's bath, so that you may not, by showing your body in an unseemly exposure to women or by seeing a sight not fitting for men, either be ensnared yourself or ensnare someone for yourself. Guard against such things, therefore, so that you may not receive snares for your soul. For let us learn what the holy word says in Wisdom:
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καὶ παρατρέπει τῆς πίστεως τοὺς ἐλαφρούς; Τί γὰρ σοὶ καὶ λείπει ἐν τῷ Νόμῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα ἐπ' ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἐθνόμυθα ὁρμήσῃς; Eἴτε γὰρ ἱστορικὰ θέλεις διέρχεσθαι, ἔχεις τὰς Βασιλείους· εἴτε σοφιστικὰ καὶ ποιητικά, ἔχεις τοὺς Προ φήτας, τὸν Ἰώβ, τὸν Παροιμιαστήν, ἐν οἷς πάσης ποιήσεως καὶ σοφιστείας πλείονα ἀγχίνοιαν εὑρήσεις, ὅτι Κυρίου τοῦ μόνου σοφοῦ Θεοῦ φθογγαί εἰσιν. Eἴτε σματικῶν ὀρέγῃ, ἔχεις τοὺς Ψαλμούς· εἴτε ἀρχαιογονίας, ἔχεις τὴν Γένεσιν· εἴτε νομίμων καὶ παραγγελιῶν, τὸν ἔνδοξον Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ Νόμον. Πάντων οὖν τῶν ἀλλοτρίων καὶ διαβολικῶν ἰσχυρῶς ἀπόσχου. Πλὴν καὶ τὸν Νόμον ἀναγινώσκων τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ ἐπεισάκτων ἀπόσχου, εἰ καὶ μὴ πάντων, ἀλλά τινων τῶν τῆς δευτερώσεως· μόνον δὲ πρὸς ἱστορίαν ἀναγίνωσκε, εἰς τὸ γινώσκειν σε καὶ δοξάζειν τὸν Θεόν, ὅτι ἀπὸ τοιούτων καὶ τοσούτων ἐρρύσατό σε δεσμῶν. Ἔστω δέ σοι πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν γινώσκειν, τί νόμος φυσικὸς καὶ τί τὰ τῆς δευ τερώσεως τά τε ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τοῖς μοσχοποιήσασι δοθέντα ἐπείσακτα. Νόμος γάρ ἐστιν, ἃ ἐλάλησεν Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς πρὸ τοῦ τὸν λαὸν εἰδωλολατρῆσαι, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἡ δεκάλογος· ἃ δὲ ἁμαρτήσασιν αὐτοῖς ἐπετέθη δεσμά, σὺ ἑαυτῷ μὴ ἐπισπάσῃ. Ὁ γὰρ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν οὐ δι' ἕτερόν τι ἦλθεν, ἢ ἵνα πληρώσῃ τὸν νόμον καὶ τοὺς προφήτας καὶ τὰ δεσμὰ τῆς δευτερώσεως τῶν ἐπεισάκτων ἢ παύσῃ ἢ μεταθῇ· διὰ γὰρ τοῦτο προσκαλούμενος ἡμᾶς ἔλεγεν· «∆εῦτε πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς.» Σὺ οὖν, ἀναγνοὺς τὸν Νόμον σύμφωνον ὄντα τῷ Eὐαγ γελίῳ καὶ τοῖς Προφήταις, ἀναγίνωσκε καὶ τὰς Βασιλείους, ὅπως εἰδέναι ἔχοις, ὁπόσοι δίκαιοι ἐγένοντο βασιλεῖς καὶ ηὐξήθησαν ὑπὸ θεοῦ, καὶ ἡ ἐπαγγελία τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς αὐτοῖς διέμεινεν παρ' αὐτῷ, ὅσοι δὲ βασιλεῖς ἐξεπόρνευσαν ἀπὸ Θεοῦ, ἐν ἀποστασίᾳ αὐτῶν συντόμως ἀπώλοντο τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ δικαιοκρισίᾳ καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ ζωῆς ἐστερήθησαν, ἀντὶ ἀναπαύσεως αἰωνίαν κόλασιν κληρωσάμενοι. Ταῦτα οὖν ἀναγινώσκων, πολὺ τῇ πίστει αὐξηθεὶς προσοικοδομηθήσῃ Χριστῷ, οὗ σῶμα καὶ μέλος τυγχάνεις. Περιπατῶν δὲ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ καὶ λούσασθαι βουλόμενος, χρήσῃ βαλανείῳ ἀνδρείῳ, ἵνα μὴ διὰ τὸ ἐπιδεικνύναι σε σῶμα ἐν ἀσχήμῳ ἀποκαλύψει γυναιξὶν ἢ θεάσασθαι θέαν οὐχ ἁρμόζουσαν ἀνδράσιν ἢ σὺ παγιδευθῇς ἢ παγιδεύσῃς ἐπὶ σαυτῷ. Φυλάσσου οὖν τὰ τοιαῦτα, ἵνα μὴ λάβῃς βρόχους τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῇ. Μάθωμεν γάρ, τί λέγει ἐν τῇ Σοφίᾳ ὁ ἅγιος λόγος·