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may return to the fold of Christ. For it is possible to see the so-called Encratites being divided and separated from one another 11 understanding the Gospel saying 6-7 that every house divided against itself will not stand. 11 who are so torn from the church 11 a remnant of love among us, where it said: God is known in Judea, in Israel his name is great, and his dwelling place is in Zion. And Zion is the mountain itself on which the city was built; for the Lord will bless you from Zion, and you shall see the good things of Jerusalem. But although Moses often wrote the same things, not to offer sacrifice elsewhere, yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the ignoble, who did not fear God, who forgot the law and the prophets, tears the people away from Jerusalem and, having taught apostasy, legislated among them not to go up to Jerusalem nor to offer there the worship which the law commanded, nor to heed the scriptures, nor to look upon the house of God at all, reasoning this, that if the people come to Jerusalem and heed the commandments of God, they will be joined to the house of God and will honor the lawful king and will abandon him. What then does he do on account of his love of power and empty deceit? In order to seem to rule the people, he sets up two golden calves on the mountains, saying: These are your gods, Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; worship these, do not go up to Jerusalem. And having legislated these things for the people, he turned them away from God and from Jerusalem. Do you see what vainglory does, what arrogance and pride work? He rose up against the lawful king, and was then compelled by the passion of self-love to act impiously even against God himself. And what of this? He calls himself and the people Samaritan; but Samaritan in the Hebrew language is guardian of the law. Did he then consistently take the name of Samaritan for himself, or did he lie? If you were a guardian of the law, you would have kept the law, you would have gone up to the temple of God, there you would have offered the first-fruits and the tithes and all the prayers, as God commanded through Moses, and you would have truly been a guardian of the law. But on the contrary, you turned his people away from God, you set up idols, and you call yourself a guardian of the law. Certainly, the guardians of the law are those who remain in Jerusalem and keep the commandments of the law and of the prophets. But he was not satisfied only to put upon himself a false name, but he also calls the people of God who remain in Jerusalem unclean, and he abominates them with all his might, being himself an abomination and unclean. For he does not touch anything of the people of God, nor does he use any vessel that the people of God used before. But what am I saying, if he abominated the Jews? But even to this day they shun every Christian and lend them neither their own cup nor plate, but say that their vessels are defiled by men. And so that each of us may know to what extent they have fallen, the Samaritan woman first said to Christ himself, contending about Jerusalem: Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and how is it that you say that in Jerusalem is the place where one must worship? And concerning the water, when he said to her: Give me to drink from the water-jar, she says to him: And how is it that you ask to drink from me, being a Samaritan woman? You see that she did not want to give to him, so that he might not defile her water-jar, as she thought; and the facts are clear. Who does not recognize the Samaritans among us? Those who have apostatized from Jerusalem, that is, from the church of Christ, those who have legislated no longer to offer prayer or first-fruits to God in Jerusalem, nor to heed the scriptures or the teachings given in the churches to the shepherds by the Holy Spirit, but to be separated and completely alien from the people of God, falsely giving themselves venerable names. For just as that one after all the impiety guardian of the

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ἀνακάμψωσιν εἰς τὴν μάνδραν τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Καὶ γὰρ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τοὺς λεγομένους Ἐγκρατίτας μεριζομένους καὶ χωριζομένους ἀπ' ἀλλήλων 11 νοοῦντας τὸ εὐαγγελι κὸν τοὺς 6-7 ὅτι πᾶσα οἰκία ἐφ' ἑαυτὴν μερισθεῖσα οὐ στήσεται. 11 οἱ τοσαῦτα διασπώμενοι τῆς ἐκκλησίας 11 ἐγκατάλειμμα ἀγάπης ἐν ἡμῖν, ὅπου ἔλεγε· Γνωστὸς ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ ὁ θεός, ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ μέγα τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ κατοικητήριον αὐτοῦ ἐν Σιών. Σιὼν δὲ αὐτὸ τὸ ὄρος ἐστίν, ἐν ᾧ ἡ πόλις ᾠκοδόμητο· εὐλογήσει γάρ σε κύριος ἐκ Σιών, καὶ ἴδοις τὰ ἀγαθὰ Ἱερουσαλήμ. Πλὴν ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ Μωϋσῆς πολλάκις τὰ αὐτὰ ἔγραψεν ἀλλαχοῦ μὴ ἀνενεγκεῖν θυσίαν, ἀλλ' Ἱεροβοὰμ ὁ υἱὸς Ναβάτ, ὁ ἀγενής, ὁ μὴ φοβούμενος τὸν θεόν, ὁ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν ἐπιλα θόμενος, ἀποσχίζει τὸν λαὸν ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἀποστασίαν διδάξας ἐνομοθέτησεν ἐν αὐτοῖς μὴ ἀναβαίνειν εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ μηδὲ ἐκεῖ ἀναφέρειν τὰς λατρείας ἃς προσέταξεν ὁ νόμος, μηδὲ ἐπακούειν τῶν γραφῶν, μηδὲ ὅλως βλέπειν τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ, λογιζόμενος τοῦτο, ὅτι ἐὰν ὁ λαὸς ἔρχηται εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἐπακούῃ τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, προστεθήσεται τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τιμήσει τὸν ἔννομον βασιλέα καὶ αὐτὸν καταλείψει. Τί οὖν ποιεῖ διὰ τὴν φιλαρχίαν καὶ κενὴν ἀπάτην; Ἵνα δόξῃ ἄρχειν τοῦ λαοῦ, δύο δαμάλεις ἵστησι χρυσᾶς τοῖς ὄρεσι λέγων· Οὗτοι οἱ θεοί σου, Ἰσραήλ, οἱ ἐξαγαγόντες σε ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου· τούτοις προσκύνει, μὴ ἀνέρχου εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ. Καὶ νομοθετήσας ταῦτα τῷ λαῷ ἀπέστησεν αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ. Βλέπεις τί ποιεῖ κενοδοξία, τί ἐργάζεται ἀλαζονεία καὶ ὑπερηφανία; Ἐπήρθη κατὰ τοῦ ἐννόμου βασιλέως, ἠναγκάσθη λοιπὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους τῆς φιλαυτίας καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν θεὸν ἀσεβῆσαι. Καὶ τί πρὸς ταῦτα; Σαμαρείτην ἑαυτὸν καὶ τὸν λαὸν ὀνομάζει· Σαμαρείτης δὲ τῇ Ἑβραίων φωνῇ ἐστι φύλαξ τοῦ νόμου. Ἆρα ἀκολούθως Σαμαρείτου ὄνομα ἑαυτῷ ἐπέθηκεν ἢ ἐψεύσατο; Εἰ ἦς φύλαξ τοῦ νόμου, ἐφύλασσες ἂν τὸν νόμον, ἀνήρχου εἰς τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐκεῖ τὰς ἀπαρχὰς καὶ τὰς δεκάτας καὶ πάσας τὰς εὐχὰς ἀνέφερες, ὡς ὁ θεὸς διὰ Μωϋσέως ἐνετείλατο, καὶ ἦς ἀληθῶς φύλαξ τοῦ νόμου. Ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπέστησας τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ, εἴδωλα ἀνέστησας, καὶ φύλακα σεαυτὸν λέγεις τοῦ νόμου. Πάντως φύλακές εἰσι τοῦ νόμου οἱ τῇ Ἱερουσαλὴμ παραμένοντες καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν φυλάσσοντες. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἠρκέσθη μόνον τὸ ψευδὲς ὄνομα ἑαυτῷ περιθεῖναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀκάθαρτον λέγει τὸν λαὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν παραμένοντα τῇ [τε] Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τοῦτον βδελύσσεται κατὰ κράτος ἐβδελυγμένος ὢν καὶ ἀκάθαρτος. Οὐδὲ γάρ τινος ἅπτεται ὧν ὁ λαὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, οὔτε σκεύει τινὶ κέχρηται ᾧ τὸ πρὶν ἐχρήσατο ὁ λαὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. Τί δὲ λέγω, εἰ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἐβδελύξατο; Ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντα χριστιανὸν μέχρι καὶ τήμερον ἀποστρέφονται καὶ οὔτε ποτήριον οὔτε πινάκιον ἴδιον αὐτῶν κιχρῶσιν, ἀλλὰ λέγουσι καὶ τὰ σκεύη αὐτῶν μιαίνεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Καὶ ἵνα γνῷ ἕκαστος ἡμῶν εἰς πόσον ἐξέπεσαν, αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ ἡ Σαμαρεῖτις γυνὴ εἶπε πρῶτον περὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἀπομαχομένη· Οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ προσεκύνησαν· καὶ πῶς ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι ἐν Ἱεροσολύ μοις ἐστὶν ὁ τόπος ὅπου δεῖ προσκυνεῖν; Περὶ δὲ τοῦ ὕδατος, ὡς εἶπεν αὐτῇ· ∆ός μοι πιεῖν ἐκ τῆς ὑδρείας, λέγει αὐτῷ· Καὶ πῶς σὺ πιεῖν αἰτεῖς παρ' ἐμοῦ οὔσης γυναικὸς Σαμαρείτιδος; Ὁρᾷς ὅτι οὐκ ἠθέλησεν αὐτῷ δοῦναι, ἵνα μὴ μιάνῃ αὐτῆς τὴν ὑδρείαν, ὡς ἐκείνη ἐνόμισε· φανερά τε τὰ πράγματα. Τίς οὐκ ἐπιγινώσκει τοὺς παρ' ἡμῖν Σαμαρείτας; Τοὺς ἀποστάντας ἀπὸ τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ, τουτέστιν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοὺς νομοθετήσαντας μηκέτι εὐχὴν ἢ ἀπαρχὰς προσφέρειν τῷ θεῷ ἐν τῇ Ἱερουσαλήμ, μηδὲ ἐπακούειν τῶν γραφῶν ἢ τῶν διδασκαλιῶν τῶν διδομένων ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τοῖς ποιμέσι παρὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ ἁγίου, ἀλλ' εἶναι κεχωρισ μένους καὶ ἀλλοτρίους παντελῶς τοῦ λαοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὀνόματα σεμνὰ ψευδῶς ἑαυτοῖς ἐπονομάσαντας. Ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖνος μετὰ πᾶσαν τὴν ἀσέβειαν φύλακα τοῦ