5

but through sheer wickedness, to come forward and say openly, "Depart from Christ, laugh at his doctrines, his teachings are a myth and a deception, he is some wicked and inhuman person," he does not dare; for he knows that by this they would rather leap away from his tyranny, and would hate him more greatly. For this reason he does not introduce the accusation directly, but going around in circles, he secretly sows the poison of impious doctrines, appearing to let one remain in the faith, but in reality, tearing it up by the roots, and destroying all the doctrines of the truth, and pouring out much slander of God among those who are persuaded. For this reason this poison for him, and the deadly drugs of fate have been prepared, so that he may secretly introduce all the things I have said, so that he may show our mind to be empty and our faith vain, so that he may persuade people to have a wicked opinion about God; which indeed he also did in the beginning in the case of Adam, by slandering God as someone malicious and envious. For he all but said thus through what he advised: "God knew," he says, "that your eyes will be opened, he knew that you will be as gods, he envied you, he begrudged you a greater honor." For even if he did not add these words, he gave them cause to suspect these things from what he said. And see the malice. Having overturned God's decree, and having said that great goods would be theirs for not obeying him, such as, the opening of eyes and equality with God, and the associated knowledge, he did not go on to add that the one who forbade these things was wicked, so that he might not seem to be making a defense like some enemy and foe, but having put on the persona of a counselor and guardian, he might make his wicked advice easy to accept; which is indeed what happened. For he wished to establish nothing else by what he said, than this: "Depart from the God who made you; he is malicious and envious, he envies you greater goods." But he did not put these words forward openly; for otherwise, suspecting him to be an enemy, they would have fled. But refraining from saying these things to them and veiling them, he introduced this deadly counsel. So also now, he does not say, "Depart from Christ," as if the divine doctrines were condemned; for he knows that he was lying and would not be believed; but maliciously he seems to leave us in these things, and to concede to the truth, but in another way he removes them, without their knowing it, from this eternal inheritance; just as if someone, a legitimate and free child, simple and harmless, while holding him with his right hand might not cast him out of his father's house, but would advise him to do things by which, willingly or unwillingly, he will be cast out from all his father's possessions. For it is not, it is not possible for one who pays attention to fate to be able to attain the heavens, or rather it is not possible to be able to escape Gehenna and punishment; for it commands all to believe things contrary to the doctrines of God. God says, "If you are willing and obey me, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you are not willing and do not obey me, the sword will devour you." For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things. Do you see how God speaks and what kind of laws he lays down? Hear also fate, how it speaks, and how it introduces contrary ordinances, and learn, how those things were spoken by the divine Spirit, but these by a wicked demon and some untamed beast. God said, "If you are willing," and "if you are not willing," making us masters of virtue and vice, and placing it in our own judgment. But what does that one say? That it is not possible to escape what is fated, whether we are willing or not. God says, "If you are willing, you will eat the good things of the land;" it says, "even if we are willing, but it is not given to us, there is no benefit in this willing." God says, "If you are not willing to heed my words, the sword will devour you;" it says, "if we are not willing, but it is given to us, we are saved anyway." Does not fate say these things? What then could be

5

δὲ ὑπεροψίαν κακίας, προελθεῖν μὲν καὶ φανερῶς εἰπεῖν, ἀπόστητε τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καταγελάσατε τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ δογμάτων, μῦθός ἐστι τὰ ἐκείνου καὶ πλάνη, πονηρός τίς ἐστι καὶ ἀπάνθρωπος, οὐ τολμᾷ· οἶδε γὰρ ταύτῃ μᾶλλον ἀποπηδήσοντας αὐτοῦ τῆς τυραννίδος, καὶ μισήσοντας αὐτὸν μειζόνως. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο μὲν ἐξ εὐθείας οὐκ εἰσάγει τὴν κατηγορίαν, κύκλῳ δὲ περιιὼν, ὑποσπείρει λάθρα τὸν ἰὸν τῶν δυσσεβῶν δογμάτων, τὸ μὲν δοκεῖν ἀφεὶς μένειν ἐν τῇ πίστει, τῇ δὲ ἀληθείᾳ, πρόῤῥιζον αὐτὴν ἀνασπῶν, καὶ πάντα καταλύων τῆς ἀληθείας τὰ δόγματα, καὶ πολλὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταχέων διαβολὴν παρὰ τοῖς πειθομένοις. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο αὐτῷ τὸ δηλητήριον τοῦτο, καὶ τὰ θανατηφόρα τῆς εἱμαρμένης κατεσκεύασται φάρμακα, ἵνα πάντα ἅπερ εἶπον λάθρα εἰσαγάγῃ, ἵνα κενὸν ἡμῶν δείξῃ τὸ φρόνημα καὶ τὴν πίστιν κενὴν, ἵνα πονηρὰν περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ πείσῃ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ψῆφον ἔχειν· ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ πεποίηκεν ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ, καθάπερ βάσκανόν τινα καὶ φθονερὸν διαβαλὼν τὸν Θεόν. Μόνον γὰρ οὐχὶ οὕτως ἔλεγεν δι' ὧν παρῄνει· ᾔδει, φησὶν, ὁ Θεὸς ὅτι ἀνοιγήσονται ὑμῶν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ, ᾔδει ὅτι ἔσεσθε ὡς θεοὶ, ἐφθόνησεν ὑμῖν, ἐβάσκανεν ὑμῖν μείζονος τιμῆς . Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μὴ προσετίθει ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα, ταῦτα αὐτοῖς ἀφ' ὧν ἔλεγεν ὑποπτεύειν ἐδίδου. Καὶ ὅρα τὴν κακουργίαν. Ἀνατρέψας τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ψῆφον, καὶ εἰπὼν ὅτι μεγάλα αὐτοῖς ἀγαθὰ ἔσται μὴ πειθομένοις αὐτῷ, οἷον, ἄνοιξις ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ ἰσοθεΐα, καὶ γνῶσις ἠρτημένη, οὐκέτι προσέθηκεν ὅτι πονηρὸς ὁ τούτων ἀπείργων, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ καθάπερ ἐχθρός τις καὶ πολέμιος λέγων ἀπολογεῖσθαι, ἀλλὰ πρόσωπον συμβούλου καὶ κηδεμόνος ὑποδὺς, εὐπαράδεκτον ποιήσῃ τὴν κακὴν παραίνεσιν· ὃ δὴ καὶ γέγονεν. Οὐ 50.755 δὲν γὰρ ἕτερον ἤθελε κατασκευάσαι δι' ὧν ἔλεγεν, ἀλλ' ἢ ὅτι ἀπόστητε τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ πεποιηκότος· βάσκανός ἐστι καὶ φθονερὸς, φθονεῖ τῶν μειζόνων ὑμῖν ἀγαθῶν. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα φανερῶς μὲν οὐκ ἔθηκε τὰ ῥήματα· ἦ γὰρ ἂν, ὑποπτεύσαντες αὐτὸν εἶναι ἐχθρὸν, ἔφυγον· ἀφεὶς δὲ εἰπεῖν αὐτοῖς ταῦτα καὶ περιστείλας, τὴν ὀλεθρίαν ταύτην εἰσήγαγε συμβουλήν. Οὕτω δὴ καὶ νῦν οὐ λέγει μὲν, ἀπόστητε τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὡς κατεγνωσμένων τῶν θείων δογμάτων· οἶδε γὰρ ὅτι ἐψεύδετο καὶ οὐκ ἐπιστεύετο· κακούργως δὲ δοκεῖ μὲν ἡμᾶς ἀφεῖναι ἐν τούτοις, καὶ συγχωρεῖν πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἑτέρως δὲ οὐκ εἰδότας αὐτοὺς ἐξαιρεῖ τῆς αἰωνίου ταύτης κληρονομίας· ὥσπερ ἂν εἴ τις παῖδα γνήσιον καὶ ἐλεύθερον, ἁπλοῦν τινα καὶ ἀπόνηρον, τῇ δεξιᾷ μὲν κατέχων μὴ ἐκβάλοι τῆς πατρικῆς οἰκίας, παραινοῖ δὲ αὐτῷ ποιεῖν δι' ὧν καὶ ἑκὼν καὶ ἄκων ἐκπεσεῖται τῶν πατρικῶν ἁπάντων. Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν, οὐκ ἔστι τὸν εἱμαρμένῃ προσέχοντα, δυνηθῆναι τῶν οὐρανῶν ἐπιτυχεῖν, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ ἔστι δυνηθῆναι τὴν γέενναν καὶ τὴν κόλασιν ἐκφυγεῖν· ἀπεναντίας γὰρ τοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ δόγμασιν ἅπαντας πείθεσθαι ἐπιτάττει. Ὁ Θεὸς λέγει, Ἐὰν θέλητε καὶ εἰσακούσητέ μου, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ θέλητε, μηδὲ εἰσακούσητέ μου, μάχαιρα ὑμᾶς κατέδεται. Τὸ γὰρ στόμα Κυρίου ἐλάλησε ταῦτα. Εἶδες πῶς ὁ Θεὸς φθέγγεται καὶ ποίους τίθησι νόμους; Ἄκουσον καὶ τῆς εἱμαρμένης, πῶς φθέγγεται, καὶ πῶς ἐναντίους εἰσάγει θεσμοὺς, καὶ μάθε, πῶς ἐκεῖνα μὲν ὑπὸ θείου Πνεύματος εἴρηται, τὰ δὲ ταύτης ὑπὸ πονηροῦ δαίμονος καὶ θηρός τινος ἀνημέρου. Εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς, Ἐὰν θέλητε, καὶ ἐὰν μὴ θέλητε, κυρίους ἡμᾶς ποιῶν ἀρετῆς καὶ κακίας, καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ γνώμῃ τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ τιθείς. Ἐκεῖνος δὲ τί φησιν; Ὅτι τὸ εἱμαρμένον οὐ δυνατὸν ἐκφυγεῖν, κἂν θέλωμεν, κἂν μὴ θέλωμεν. Ὁ Θεὸς λέγει· Ἐὰν θέλητε, τὰ ἀγαθὰ τῆς γῆς φάγεσθε· αὐτὴ λέγει, κἂν θέλωμεν, μὴ ᾖ δὲ ἡμῖν δεδομένον, οὐδὲν ὄφελος τοῦτο θέλειν. Ὁ Θεὸς λέγει, Ἐὰν μὴ θέλητε προσέχειν τοῖς λόγοις μου, μάχαιρα ὑμᾶς κατέδεται· αὐτὴ λέγει, ἂν μὴ θέλωμεν, ᾖ δὲ ἡμῖν δεδομένον, πάντως σωζόμεθα. Οὐ ταῦτα ἡ εἱμαρμένη φησί; Τί γένοιτο ἂν οὖν