9

is manifest to children. Except there are some who trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel

of Christ. That is, As long as your mind is healthy, you will not acknowledge another gospel, as long as you see things rightly, and not perversely, imagining things that are not. For just as the eye when disturbed sees one thing for another; so also the mind, when darkened by the confusion of wicked thoughts, is wont to suffer the same thing. For it is for this reason that madmen imagine one thing for another. But this madness is more grievous than that one, working its harm not in things of sense, but in things of the mind, producing its ruin not in the pupil of the body's eyes, but in the eyes of the understanding. And would pervert the Gospel of Christ. And yet they introduced only one or a second commandment, that of circumcision, and were innovating only regarding the days; but showing that a small counterfeit corrupts the whole, he said the Gospel was being subverted. For just as with royal coins, he who clips a small part of the stamp has made the whole coin counterfeit; so also he who subverts even the least part of the sound faith, corrupts the whole, proceeding to worse things from that beginning. Where then are those who judge us for contentiousness on account of our separation from the heretics? where now are those who say there is no difference between us and them, but that the division arises from love of rule? Let them hear what Paul says, that those who innovate even a little subverted the Gospel. But these do not innovate a little thing; for how, they who call the Son of God a creature? Have you not heard that even in the Old Testament one who gathered sticks on the sabbath, and transgressed one commandment, and not even the greatest, paid the ultimate penalty? and Uzzah, who steadied the ark when it was about to be overturned, died immediately, because he touched a ministry that did not belong to him? Then did the transgression of the sabbath, and the touching of the falling ark, bring God to such indignation, that those who dared these things did not receive even a brief pardon; but will he who has corrupted dreadful and ineffable dogmas 61.623 obtain a defense and pardon? This is not so, it is not so. But indeed this very thing is the cause of all evils, not to be indignant even over these small things. For this reason the greater sins have entered in, because the lesser ones do not receive their proper correction. And just as in bodies those who have neglected wounds have produced fevers and gangrenes and death; so also in souls those who look down on small things introduce greater ones. Such a one, he says, errs concerning the fast, and it is no great matter; another is strong in the right faith, but being a hypocrite for the sake of the times, has betrayed his boldness of speech; neither is this any great evil. Another, being provoked, has threatened to depart from the right faith; but neither is this worthy of punishment; for he sinned in anger, he says, and in wrath. And one might find countless such sins being introduced into the Churches every day. For this reason we have become a laughingstock to both Jews and Greeks, as the Church is split into countless pieces. For if those who from the beginning attempted to leap away from the divine ordinances and to alter some small thing, had received the proper censure, the present pestilence would not have been born, nor would so great a storm have seized the Churches. See, therefore, how Paul calls circumcision a subversion of the Gospel.

7. But now there are many among us who both fast on the same day as the Jews, and keep the sabbaths in like manner; and we bear it nobly, or rather, wretchedly. And what

9

παισίν ἐστι κατάδηλα. Εἰ μή τινές εἰσιν οἱ ταράσσοντες ὑμᾶς, καὶ θέλοντες ἀνατρέψαι τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον

τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Τουτέστιν, Ἕως ἂν ὑγιαίνητε τὸν νοῦν, οὐκ ἐπιγνώσεσθε ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, ἕως ἂν ὀρθὰ βλέπητε, καὶ μὴ διεστραμμένα, τὰ μὴ ὄντα φανταζόμενοι. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς διαταραχθεὶς ἕτερα ἀνθ' ἑτέρων ὁρᾷ· οὕτω καὶ νοῦς τῇ τῶν πονηρῶν συγχύσει θολούμενος λογισμῶν τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο πάσχειν εἴωθε. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ οἱ μαινόμενοι ἕτερα ἀνθ' ἑτέρων φαντάζονται. Ἀλλ' αὕτη χαλεπωτέρα ἐκείνης ἡ μανία, οὐκ ἐν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς νοητοῖς τὴν βλάβην ἐργαζομένη, οὐκ ἐν τῇ κόρῃ τῶν τοῦ σώματος ὀμμάτων, ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς τῆς διανοίας τὴν καταστροφὴν κατασκευάζουσα. Καὶ θέλοντες ἀνατρέψαι τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Καὶ μὴν μίαν μόνην, ἢ δευτέραν ἐπεισῆγον ἐντολὴν, τὴν τῆς περιτομῆς, καὶ τὴν τῶν ἡμερῶν μόνον καινοτομοῦντες· ἀλλὰ δεικνὺς ὅτι μικρὸν παραποιηθὲν, τὸ ὅλον λυμαίνεται, εἶπε τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον ἀνατρέπεσθαι. Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς βασιλικοῖς νομίσμασιν ὁ μικρὸν τοῦ χαρακτῆρος περικόψας, ὅλον τὸ νόμισμα κίβδηλον εἰργάσατο· οὕτω καὶ ὁ τῆς ὑγιοῦς πίστεως καὶ τὸ βραχύτατον ἀνατρέψας, τῷ παντὶ λυμαίνεται, ἐπὶ τὰ χείρονα προϊὼν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς. Ποῦ τοίνυν εἰσὶν οἱ φιλονεικίας ἡμᾶς κρίνοντες ἕνεκεν τῆς πρὸς τοὺς αἱρετικοὺς διαστάσεως; ποῦ νῦν εἰσιν οἱ λέγοντες οὐδὲν μέσον εἶναι ἡμῶν κἀκείνων, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ φιλαρχίας τὴν διαφορὰν γίνεσθαι; Ἀκουέτωσαν τί φησιν ὁ Παῦλος, ὅτι τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον ἀνέτρεψαν οἱ καὶ μικρόν τι καινοτομοῦντες. Οὗτοι δὲ οὔ τι μικρόν· πῶς γὰρ, οἱ τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ κτίσμα λέγοντες; Οὐκ ἤκουσας ὅτι καὶ ἐν τῇ Παλαιᾷ ἐν σαββάτῳ ξύλα τις συλλέξας, καὶ μίαν ἐντολὴν παραβὰς, καὶ οὐδὲ ταύτην μεγίστην, ἐσχάτην δέδωκε δίκην; καὶ Ὀζᾶ τὴν κιβωτὸν μέλλουσαν περιτρέπεσθαι στηρίξας, παραχρῆμα ἀπέθανεν, ὅτι μὴ προσηκούσης αὐτῷ διακονίας ἥψατο; Εἶτα σαββάτου μὲν ἡ παράβασις, καὶ τὸ τῆς κιβωτοῦ καταπιπτούσης ἅψασθαι, εἰς τοσαύτην ἤγαγε τὸν Θεὸν ἀγανάκτησιν, ὥστε μηδὲ βραχείας τυχεῖν συγγνώμης τοὺς ταῦτα τολμήσαντας· ὁ δὲ δόγματα φρικτὰ καὶ ἀπόῤῥητα 61.623 λυμηνάμενος, οὗτος ἀπολογίας τεύξεται καὶ συγγνώμης; Οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα, οὐκ ἔστιν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸ μὲν οὖν τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ πάντων αἴτιον τῶν κακῶν, τὸ μὴ καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν μικρῶν τούτων ἀγανακτεῖν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τὰ μείζονα τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐπεισῆλθεν, ὅτι τὰ ἐλάττονα τῆς προσηκούσης οὐ τυγχάνει διορθώσεως. Καὶ καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς σώμασιν οἱ τῶν τραυμάτων καταφρονήσαντες, πυρετοὺς ἔτεκον καὶ σηπεδόνας καὶ θάνατον· οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ψυχῶν οἱ τῶν μικρῶν ὑπερορῶντες, τὰ μείζονα ἐπεισάγουσιν. Ὁ δεῖνα, φησὶ, περὶ τὴν νηστείαν σφάλλεται, καὶ οὐδὲν μέγα ἐστίν· ἕτερος τῇ πίστει μὲν ἔῤῥωται τῇ ὀρθῇ, ὑποκρινόμενος δὲ διὰ τὸν καιρὸν, τὴν παῤῥησίαν προέδωκεν· οὐδὲ τοῦτό τι μέγα δεινόν. Ἄλλος παροξυνθεὶς, ἠπείλησεν ἀποστήσεσθαι τῆς ὀρθῆς πίστεως· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἄξιον τιμωρίας· ὀργῇ γὰρ ἥμαρτε, φησὶ, καὶ θυμῷ. Καὶ μυρία τις ἂν εὕροι τοιαῦτα καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἁμαρτήματα ἐπεισαγόμενα ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ καταγέλαστοι γεγόναμεν καὶ Ἰουδαίοις καὶ Ἕλλησιν, εἰς μυρία τῆς Ἐκκλησίας σχιζομένης. Εἰ γὰρ οἱ παρὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀποπηδᾷν τῶν θείων θεσμῶν ἐπιχειροῦντες καὶ μικρόν τι παρακινεῖν, τῆς προσηκούσης ἐτύγχανον ἐπιτιμήσεως, οὐκ ἂν ὁ παρὼν ἐτέχθη λοιμὸς, καὶ τοσοῦτος χειμὼν τὰς Ἐκκλησίας κατέλαβεν. Ὅρα γοῦν ὁ Παῦλος πῶς τὴν περιτομὴν ἀνατροπὴν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου καλεῖ.

ζʹ· Νῦν δέ εἰσι πολλοὶ παρ' ἡμῖν καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν Ἰουδαίοις νηστεύοντες ἡμέραν, καὶ σάββατα τηροῦντες ὁμοίως· καὶ φέρομεν γενναίως, μᾶλλον δὲ ταλαιπώρως. Καὶ τί