knowing that you do this not to a man but to God who said, He who hears you hears me, and in lying and withholding what you have brought to God do you not think you are sinning? or do you think it is not a sin, to take back again the things given to God? But learn how you take them back: because you make the ascetic priest trustworthy for your soul, giving it to be offered to God, but concerning the cold and miserable and wretched material things of this world you judge and test him. how then do you not think you are sinning a sin not of an ordinary kind but sacrilege itself, the judgment for which the blessed Peter shows in the Acts, when having convicted Ananias and Sapphira for keeping back from the price of the field, which having offered they were commanded to sell, so that it might proceed to the ministry of the brethren, he condemned them to a bitter death, and instilled great fear in the whole church. but you will say I do not take back the renunciation, but I am providing for it to be managed fittingly and well. Above all, reason does not allow you to be an examiner of things that no longer belong to you, for you do not know what is fitting or not fitting, and you are convicted of taking back the renunciation also; you are convicted besides these things of lying also in saying I do not take it back. 53.10 for tell me: did you not give your soul and then your possessions to God through the hands of the ascetic? therefore these things are no longer in your power, but it is a firm and true renunciation, of the soul when it does not at all fulfill its own wishes, but, just as material to a craftsman, so it subjects all its senses to him to whom it has entrusted its soul after God, keeping its eye fixed on the things commanded by him. and as material does not contradict the craftsman who wishes to make an honorable vessel and not a dishonorable one, for material is at once lifeless and senseless, so reason demands you to be also. for as one who has entrusted his soul to an experienced man and is not his own, let him lead you, and bear you where he wishes and as he wishes. but if this is said concerning the soul, how much more should you be insensible concerning your earthly and perishable possessions, which you say you have renounced? 53.11 but if you scrutinize and give orders to the ascetic, see how many sins you seem to be committing: first, drawing judgment for sacrilege upon yourself, having renounced your wishes and taking them up again; second, condemning the one whom you chose as judge of your actions; third, bearing the disease of willfulness and self-love or even love of power; and fourth, shaming the first brothers and those you ought to have honored as poor and having renounced nothing, and wishing them to submit to your authority, because you yourself provided the clothing and vessels in which they minister; and wherever you might turn in the monastery, all things are seen as yours, and you reason that before me the ascetic was most humble and poor, but on my account and through my things he has lifted his head a little, and appearing splendid through my things to visiting friends he has found great esteem; for before this, his clothing was mean, but now it is splendid, through which he has also been glorified. and see how unfeelingly he wishes to have me on a par with the rest, and for this reason he compels the ascetic also to pervert just judgment, so that, yielding to this pressure, he should appoint him ruler of the whole brotherhood. and if he should happen to know letters and to sit on a teacher's throne, then he has believed himself worthy to bless his own fathers, he who has not even tasted asceticism with the tip of his lips, over those who have contended in all sorts of ascetic practices of the virtues, then perhaps he even wished to remove the ascetic from his authority completely; and in all these things he thinks he has neither perverted nor taken anything away, because he has not taken the money back, having so wickedly and absurdly intended to lift his soul from the hands of the ascetic. and how much better it would have been, if having taken the money he had quickly gone away; for a quick release from loss is more profitable than any material gain; for he himself would have been freed

εἰδὼς ὅτι οὐκ ἀνθρώπῳ ἀλλὰ τῷ θεῷ τοῦτο ποιεῖς τῷ εἰπόντι Ὁ ὑμῶν ἀκούων ἐμοῦ ἀκούει, καὶ ψευδόμενος καὶ ἀποστερῶν ἃ προσήγαγες τῷ θεῷ οὐ δοκεῖς ἁμαρτάνειν; ἢ δοκεῖς μὴ εἶναι ἁμαρτίαν, τὰ δοθέντα τῷ θεῷ πάλιν ἀφαιρεῖσθαι; πῶς δὲ ἀφαιρεῖς μάθε· ὅτι τῆς μὲν ψυχῆς σου ἀξιόπιστον ποιεῖς τὸν ἀσκητὴν ἱερέα ταύτην διδοὺς προσάγειν θεῷ, περὶ δὲ τῶν ψυχρῶν καὶ οἰκτρῶν καὶ ταλαιπώρων πραγμάτων τῆς ὕλης τοῦ κόσμου τούτου κρίνεις αὐτὸν καὶ δοκιμάζεις. πῶς οὖν οὐ δοκεῖς ἁμαρτάνειν ἁμαρτίαν οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἀλλ' αὐτὴν τὴν ἱεροσυλίαν, ἧς τὸ κρῖμα δείκνυσιν ὁ μακάριος Πέτρος ἐν ταῖς πράξεσιν, ὅτε Ἀνανίαν καὶ Σάπφειραν ἐξελέγξας ὡς νοσφισα μένους ἀπὸ τῆς τιμῆς τοῦ χωρίου, ὃ προσενέγκαντες ἐκελεύσθησαν πωλῆ σαι, ὥστε εἰς διακονίαν τῶν ἀδελφῶν προχωρῆσαι, θανάτῳ τούτους πικρῷ κατεδίκασε, καὶ φόβον μέγαν ἐνεποίησε πάσῃ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ. ἀλλ' ἐρεῖς Οὐκ ἀφαιροῦμαι τὴν ἀποταγήν, ἀλλὰ δεόντως οἰκονομηθῆναι καὶ καλῶς προνοοῦμαι. μάλιστα μὲν οὐδὲ δοκιμαστήν σε εἶναι τῶν μηκέτι ἀνηκόντων ὁ λόγος συγχωρεῖ, οὐ γὰρ ἐπίστασαι τὸ δέον ἢ μὴ δέον, ἐλέγχῃ δὲ ἀφαιρούμενος καὶ τὴν ἀποταγήν· ἐλέγχῃ πρὸς τούτοις καὶ ψευδόμε νος ἐν τῷ λέγειν Οὐκ ἀφαιροῦμαι. 53.10 λέγε γάρ μοι· οὐχὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἔπειτα καὶ τὰ χρήματα ἔδωκας διὰ τῶν χειρῶν τοῦ ἀσκητοῦ τῷ θεῷ; οὐκοῦν οὐκέτι ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ σου ἐστὶ ταῦτα, ἀποταγὴ δέ ἐστι βεβαία καὶ ἀληθής, ψυχῆς μὲν ὅταν καθ' ὅλου τὰ ἴδια θελήματα μὴ ἐπιτελῇ, ἀλλὰ, καθάπερ ὕλη τεχνίτῃ, οὕτως ὑποθῇ τὰς αἰσθήσεις ἑαυτοῦ πάσας, ᾧ τὴν ψυχὴν παρέθετο μετὰ τὸν θεόν, ἀτενὲς ἔχων τὸ ὄμμα πρὸς τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ κελευόμενα. καὶ ὡς ὕλη οὐκ ἀντερεῖ τῷ τεχνίτῃ ἔντιμον βουλομένῳ ποιῆσαι σκεῦος καὶ οὐκ ἄτιμον, ἄψυχος γὰρ ἅπαξ ὕλη καὶ ἀναίσθητός ἐστιν, οὕτως εἶναι καί σε ὁ λόγος ἀπαιτεῖ. ὡς γὰρ ἐμπείρῳ τὴν ψυχὴν παραθέμενον καὶ οὐκ ὄντα ἑαυτοῦ αὐτὸς ἀγέτω σε, καὶ φερέτω ὅπου βούλεται καὶ ὡς βούλεται. εἰ δὲ περὶ ψυχῆς εἴρηται τοῦτο, πῶς περὶ τῶν γηΐνων σου καὶ φθαρτῶν κτημάτων, οἷς ἀποτάξασθαι λέγεις, ἀναισθητεῖν σε χρή; 53.11 εἰ δὲ καταζητεῖς καὶ διατάσσῃ τῷ ἀσκητῇ, ὅρα πόσα δοκεῖς ἁμαρτάνειν· πρῶτον μέν, ἱεροσυλίαν ἐπισπώμενος κρῖμα, τοῖς θελήμασιν ἀποταξάμενος καὶ ἐπαναλαμβάνων αὐτά· δεύτερον, ὃν ᾑρετίσω κριτὴν τῶν ὑπὸ σοῦ πραττομένων κατακρίνων· τρίτον, αὐθαδείας καὶ φιλαυτίας ἢ καὶ φιλαρχίας φέρειν νόσον· τέταρτον δέ, τοὺς πρώτους καὶ οὓς δοξά ζειν ὤφειλες ἀδελφοὺς καταισχύνων ὡς πένητας καὶ μηδενὶ ἀποταξαμέ νους, καὶ ὑποκύπτειν αὐτοὺς τῇ σῇ δυναστείᾳ βουλόμενος, ὅτι ἐσθῆτα καὶ σκεύη ἐν οἷς διακονοῦνται αὐτὸς παρέσχες· καὶ ὅθεν ἂν περιστραφῇς ἐν τῇ μονῇ, τὰ πάντα σὰ ὁρῶνται, καὶ λογίζῃ ὡς πρὸ ἐμοῦ ταπεινότατος καὶ πτωχὸς ὑπῆρχεν ὁ ἀσκητής, ἐπ' ἐμοὶ δὲ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐμῶν μικρὸν ἐπῆρε τὴν κεφαλήν, καὶ παρὰ τοῖς ἐπιδημοῦσι φίλοις διὰ τῶν ἐμῶν λαμπρὸς φανεὶς ὑπόληψιν εὗρε μεγάλην· πρὸ γὰρ τούτου, ἐσθὴς αὐτῷ εὐτελής, νῦν δὲ λαμπρά, δι' ἧς καὶ δεδόξασται. καὶ ὅρα ὡς ἀναίσθητος ἴσον ἔχειν με τῶν λοιπῶν βούλεται, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο περιτρέψαι καὶ τὸν ἀσκητὴν τὸ δίκαιον κρῖμα βιάζεται, ὥστε ὑποκρινάμενον τῇ βίᾳ ταύτῃ ἄρχοντα πάσης αὐτὸν χειροτονῆσαι τῆς ἀδελφότητος. εἰ δὲ εἰδὼς εἴη καὶ γράμματα καὶ εἰς θρόνον αὐτὸν διδασκάλου καθέζεσθαι, εἶτα εὐλο γεῖν τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ πατέρας ἄξιον ἑαυτὸν πεπίστευκεν, ὃς οὐδ' ἄκροις χείλεσι τῆς ἀσκήσεως ἐγεύσατο, τοὺς παντοίαις ἀσκήσεσι τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐναθλήσαντας, εἶτα καὶ τέλεον ἀποκινῆσαι τὸν ἀσκητὴν τῆς ἀρχῆς ἠβουλήθη τάχα· καὶ οἴεται ἐπὶ τούτοις πᾶσι μηδὲν παρατρέψαι μήτε ὑφελέσθαι, ὅτι τὰ χρήματα εἰς ἀνόπιν οὐκ εἴληφεν, οὕτως κακῶς καὶ ἀτόπως ἐν τῷ τὴν ψυχὴν ἆραι τῶν χειρῶν τοῦ ἀσκητοῦ διανοηθείς. καὶ πόσῳ βέλτιον ἦν, εἰ τὰ χρήματα εἰληφὼς συντόμως ᾤχετο· σύντομος γὰρ ἀπαλλαγὴ ζημίας κερδαλεωτέρα παντὸς εὑρέματος ὑλικοῦ· ἀπηλλάγη γὰρ ἂν αὐτὸς