and to understand deeper things, but to consider only those things assigned to him according to his worth. What then, you say, should not priests who are impious or convicted of some other absurdity be called to account, and will it be permitted only for those who boast in the law to dishonor God through the transgression of the law? And how are the priests revealers of God? For how will they proclaim to the people the divine virtues, not having known their power? Or how will the darkened give light, and how will they impart the divine spirit, not having even believed in habit and truth that there is a Holy Spirit? But I will make a defense to you against these things (for Demophilus is not an enemy, nor will I suffer you to be overcome by Satan); for each of the orders around God is more godlike than the one more distant, and the things nearer to the true light are at once more luminous and more illuminating. And you should not take the nearness spatially, but according to the fitness for receiving God. If, therefore, the order of priests is the illuminating one, he who is not illuminating has fallen completely away from the priestly rank and power, and surely even more so he who is un-illuminated. And to me such a one seems audacious in attempting priestly things, and he neither fears nor is ashamed in pursuing divine things beyond his worth and thinking that God is ignorant of the things he himself is conscious of in himself; and he thinks to deceive the one falsely called Father by him, and dares to utter his accursed blasphemies (for I would not call them prayers) over the divine symbols in a Christ-like manner. This man is not a priest, he is not, but a foe, treacherous, a mocker of himself and a wolf armed in sheep's clothing against the divine people. But it is not lawful for Demophilus to correct these things. For if theology justly commands to pursue just things (and it is just to pursue things when one wishes to render to each what is due according to worth), this must be justly pursued by all, not contrary to their own worth or rank, since it is also just for angels to be assigned and set apart according to their worth, but not by us, O Demophilus, but to us from God through them, and to them through the angels still superior to them. And, to speak simply: among all beings, what is due according to worth is rendered to the second by the first, by the well-ordered and most just providence of all. Therefore, let those who have been appointed by God to rule over others render to those under them, after themselves, what is due according to worth. But let Demophilus set apart what is due to reason and passion and desire, and let him not wrong his own rank, but let the superior reason rule over the subordinate. For if in the marketplace, seeing a servant reviling and also attacking and inflicting blows on a master, and a younger on an elder, or even a son on a father, we would seem impious if we did not run to the aid of our superiors, even though perhaps they had been wronged first, how shall we not be ashamed, overlooking reason being wronged by passion and desire and being cast out from the rule given by God, and stirring up within ourselves impious and unjust disorder and sedition and chaos? Rightly our blessed lawgiver from God does not deem worthy to preside over the church of God one who has not already presided well over his own house, for indeed he who has ordered himself will also order another, and he who has ordered another will also order a house, and he who has ordered a house will also order a city, and he who has ordered a city will also order a nation. And to speak simply, as the oracles say: he who is "faithful in little ... is faithful also in much," and he who is unfaithful in little is also unfaithful in much.

καὶ βαθύτερα ἐννοεῖν, διανοεῖσθαι δὲ μόνα τὰ κατ' ἀξίαν αὐτῷ προστε ταγμένα. Τί οὖν, φῄς, οὐ χρὴ τοὺς ἱερέας ἀσεβοῦντας ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἀτόπων ἐξελεγχομένους εὐθύνεσθαι, μόνοις δὲ ἐξέσται τοῖς καυχωμένοις ἐν νόμῳ διὰ τῆς παραβάσεως τοῦ νόμου τὸν θεὸν ἀτιμάζειν; Καὶ πῶς οἱ ἱερεῖς ἐκφάντορές εἰσι τοῦ θεοῦ; Πῶς γὰρ ἐξαγγελοῦσι τῷ λαῷ τὰς θείας ἀρετὰς οὐκ ἐγνωκότες αὐτῶν τὴν δύναμιν; Ἢ πῶς φωτιοῦσι οἱ ἐσκοτισμένοι, πῶς δὲ τοῦ θείου μεταδώσουσι πνεύματος οὐδέ, εἰ ἔστι πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ἕξει καὶ ἀληθείᾳ πεπιστευκότες; Ἐγὼ δὲ ἀπολογήσομαί σοι πρὸς ταῦτα (καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἐχθρὸς ὁ ∆ημό φιλος, οὐδὲ ἀνέξομαί σε πλεονεκτηθῆναι τῷ Σατανᾷ)· καὶ γὰρ ἑκάστη τῶν περὶ θεὸν διακόσμησις θεοειδεστέρα τῆς μᾶλλον ἀφεστηκυίας ἐστί, καὶ φωτεινότερα ἅμα καὶ φωτιστικώτερα τὰ μᾶλλον τῷ ἀληθινῷ φωτὶ πλησιαίτερα. Καὶ μὴ τοπικῶς ἐκλάβοις, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν θεοδόχον ἐπιτη δειότητα τὸν πλησιασμόν. Eἰ τοίνυν ἡ τῶν ἱερέων ἐστὶ διακόσμησις ἡ φωτιστική, παντελῶς ἀποπέπτωκε τῆς ἱερατικῆς τάξεως καὶ δυνάμεως ὁ μὴ φωτιστικός, ἦ πού γε μᾶλλον ὁ ἀφώτιστος. Καὶ τολμηρὸς ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ τοῖς ἱερατικοῖς ὁ τοιοῦτος ἐγχειρῶν, καὶ οὐ δέδοικεν οὐδὲ αἰσχύνεται τὰ θεῖα παρὰ τὴν ἀξίαν διώκων καὶ οἰόμενος θεὸν ἀγνοεῖν, ἅπερ αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ συνέγνωκε· καὶ ἀπατᾶν νομίζει τὸν ψευδωνύμως ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πα τέρα καλούμενον καὶ τολμᾷ τὰς ἐναγεῖς αὐτοῦ δυσφημίας (οὐ γὰρ εἴποιμι προσευχάς) ἐπὶ τὰ θεῖα σύμβολα χριστοειδῶς ἐπιλέγειν. Oὔκ ἐστιν οὗτος ἱερεύς, οὔκ ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ δυσμενής, δόλιος, ἐμπαίκτης ἑαυτοῦ καὶ λύκος ἐπὶ τὸν θεῖον λαὸν κωδίῳ καθωπλισμένος. Ἀλλ' οὐ ∆ημοφίλῳ ταῦτα θεμιτὸν εὐθύνειν. Eἰ γὰρ ἡ θεολογία δικαίως τὰ δίκαια κελεύει μεταδιώκειν (δίκαια δέ ἐστι μεταδιώκειν, ὅταν ἀπονέμειν ἐθέλοι τις ἑκάστῳ τὰ κατ' ἀξίαν), δικαίως τοῦτο πᾶσι μετα διωκτέον, οὐ παρὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀξίαν ἢ τάξιν, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἀγγέλοις δίκαιον ἀπονέμεσθαι τὰ κατ' ἀξίαν καὶ ἀφορίζεσθαι, πλὴν οὐ πρὸς ἡμῶν, ὦ ∆ημόφιλε, δι' αὐτῶν δὲ ἡμῖν ἐκ θεοῦ καὶ αὐτοῖς διὰ τῶν ἔτι προὐχόντων ἀγγέλων. Καί, ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν· ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς οὖσι διὰ τῶν πρώτων τοῖς δευτέροις ἀπονέμεται τὰ κατ' ἀξίαν ὑπὸ τῆς πάντων εὐτάκτου καὶ δικαιοτάτης προνοίας. Oἱ μὲν οὖν καὶ ἄλλων ἐπάρχειν ὑπὸ θεοῦ ταχθέντες ἀπονείμωσι μεθ' ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τοῖς ὑπηκόοις τὰ κατ' ἀξίαν. ∆ημόφιλος δὲ λόγῳ καὶ θυμῷ καὶ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τὰ κατ' ἀξίαν ἀφοριζέτω καὶ μὴ ἀδικείτω τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τάξιν, ἀλλ' ἐπαρχέτω τῶν ὑφειμένων ὁ ὑπερκείμενος λόγος. Eἰ γὰρ ἐπ' ἀγορᾶς, ἰδόντες οἰκέτην δεσπότῃ καὶ πρεσβυτέρῳ νεώτερον ἢ καὶ υἱὸν πατρὶ διαλοιδορούμενον ἅμα καὶ ἐπιόντα καὶ πληγὰς ἐπιτι θέντα, καὶ ἀσεβεῖν ἐδοκοῦμεν, εἰ μὴ τοῖς κρείττοσιν ἐπιδραμόντες ἐβοηθή σαμεν, καίτοι γε ἴσως ἐκεῖνοι προηδίκηντο, πῶς οὐκ αἰσχυνθησόμεθα παρορῶντες ὑπὸ θυμοῦ καὶ ἐπιθυμίας ἀδικούμενον λόγον καὶ τῆς ἐκ θεοῦ δοθείσης ἀρχῆς ἐκβαλλόμενον καὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀσεβῆ καὶ ἄδικον ἀταξίαν καὶ στάσιν καὶ ἀκοσμίαν ἐγείροντες; Eἰκότως ὁ μακάριος ἡμῶν ἐκ θεοῦ νομοθέτης οὐκ ἀξιοῖ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ θεοῦ προΐστασθαι τὸν μὴ τοῦ ἰδίου οἴκου καλῶς ἤδη προεστηκότα, καὶ γὰρ ὁ τάξας ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἕτερον τάξει, καὶ ὁ ἕτερον καὶ οἶκον, καὶ ὁ οἶκον καὶ πόλιν, καὶ ὁ πόλιν καὶ ἔθνος. Καὶ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησιν· ὁ ἐν ὀλίγῳ «πιστὸς ... καὶ ἐν πολλῷ πιστός ἐστιν», καὶ ὁ ἐν ὀλίγῳ ἄπιστος καὶ ἐν πολλῷ ἄπιστός ἐστιν.