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a council of God and a bond of the apostles of Christ. Without these, there is no elect church, no holy assembly, no congregation of saints. But I am persuaded that you also are so disposed; for I have received the exemplar of your love and have it with me in your bishop, whose very demeanor is a great lesson, and his meekness is power; whom I reckon even the godless revere. Loving you, I forbear to write more sharply, lest I seem to some to be burdensome or wanting. I am bound indeed for Christ's sake, but I am not yet worthy of Christ; but if I am perfected, perhaps I shall be. I do not command as an apostle, but I measure myself, lest I perish in boasting. But it is good to boast in the Lord. And though I am strong in things pertaining to God, I must fear the more and not pay attention to those who idly puff me up; for those who praise me scourge me. For I indeed love to suffer, but I do not know if I am worthy; for the envy of the enemy is not apparent to many, but it makes war on me. I have need, therefore, of meekness, in which the ruler of this age, the devil, is overcome. For was I not able to write to you more mystical things? But I fear lest, as you are infants, I should cause you harm; and forgive me, lest not being able to receive its power, you should be choked. For even I, not because I am bound and can understand heavenly things and the angelic orders and the dispositions of archangels and armies, the differences of powers and lordships, the variations of thrones and authorities, the magnificences of the ages, the excellencies of the Cherubim and Seraphim, the sublimity of the spirit and the kingdom of the Lord, and above all, the incomparable nature of God the Almighty— though I know these things, I am not by any means already perfected, or a disciple such as Paul and Peter; for I lack many things, that I may not be forsaken by God. Therefore I exhort you—not I, but the love of Jesus Christ—that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made perfect in the same opinion and in the same mind. For there are certain vain talkers and deceivers, not Christians, but Christ-mongers, carrying about the name of Christ in deceit and peddling the word of the gospel and weaving in the poison of error with its sweet name, just as if mixing hemlock with honeyed wine, so that the one who drinks, beguiled by the very sweet quality, may be heedlessly delivered over to death by his sense of taste. One of the ancients advises: Let no one be called good who mixes the good with evil. For they speak of Christ, not that they may preach Christ, but that they may set Christ aside; and they bring forward not the law, that they may establish the law, but that they may proclaim lawlessness; for they alienate Christ from the Father, and the law from Christ. They slander the birth from a virgin, being ashamed of the cross they deny the passion, and they do not believe in the resurrection; they introduce an unknown God, they suppose Christ to be unbegotten, and they do not even confess that the Spirit exists. And some of them say that the Son is a mere man, and that the Father and Son and Holy Spirit are the same, and that the creation is the work of God, not through Christ, but of some other, alien power.

Beware, therefore, of such men, that you may not receive a snare for your own souls; and make your life a stumbling-block to no one, that you may not become a trap on the watchtower and like a net spread out. For he who does not heal himself in his own works is a brother to him who destroys himself. If, therefore, you also put away conceit, arrogance, pride, and contempt, it is possible for you to be inseparable from God; for he is near to those who fear him, and: "On whom," he says, "will I look, but on him who is humble and quiet and who trembles at my words?" And reverence your bishop as Christ, as the blessed apostles have commanded you. He who is within the altar is pure; therefore he also obeys the bishop and the presbyters; but he who is without, this is he who is without the bishop and the

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συνέδριον θεοῦ καὶ σύνδεσμος ἀποστόλων Χριστοῦ. χωρὶς τούτων ἐκκλησία ἐκλεκτὴ οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐ συνάθροισμα ἅγιον, οὐ συναγωγὴ ὁσίων. πέπεισμαι δὲ καὶ ὑμᾶς οὕτω διακεῖσθαι· τὸ γὰρ ἐξεμπλάριον τῆς ἀγάπης ὑμῶν ἔλαβον καὶ ἔχω μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ ἐν τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ ὑμῶν, οὗ αὐτὸ τὸ κατάστημα μεγάλη μαθητεία, ἡ δὲ πραότης αὐτοῦ δύναμις· ὃν λογίζομαι καὶ τοὺς ἀθέους ἐντρέπεσθαι. ἀγαπῶν ὑμᾶς φείδομαι συντονώτερον ἐπιστεῖλαι, ἵνα μὴ δόξω τισὶν εἶναι προσάντης ἢ ἐπιδεής. δέδεμαι μὲν διὰ Χριστόν, ἀλλ' οὐδέπω Χριστοῦ ἄξιός εἰμι· ἐὰν δὲ τελειωθῶ, τάχα γενήσομαι. Oὐχ ὡς ἀπόστολος διατάσσομαι, ἀλλ' ἐμαυτὸν μετρῶ, ἵνα μὴ ἐν καυχήσει ἀπόλωμαι. καλὸν δὲ τὸ ἐν κυρίῳ καυχᾶσθαι. κἂν ἐρρωμένος ὦ τὰ κατὰ θεόν, πλέον με δεῖ φοβεῖσθαι καὶ μὴ προσέχειν τοῖς εἰκῆ φυσιοῦσί με· οἱ γάρ με ἐπαινοῦντες μαστιγοῦσιν. ἀγαπῶ μὲν γὰρ τὸ παθεῖν, ἀλλ' οὐκ οἷδα, εἰ ἄξιός εἰμι· τὸ γὰρ ζῆλος τοῦ ἐχθροῦ πολλοῖς μὲν οὐ φαίνεται, ἐμὲ δὲ πολεμεῖ. χρῄζω οὖν πραότητος, ἐν ᾗ καταλύεται ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ὁ διάβολος. Mὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἐδυνάμην ὑμῖν μυστικώτερα γράψαι; ἀλλὰ φοβοῦμαι, μὴ νηπίοις οὖσιν ὑμῖν βλάβην παραθῶμαι καὶ σύγγνωτέ μοι, μὴ οὐ δυνηθέντες χωρῆσαι τὴν ἐνέργειαν στραγγαλωθῆτε. καὶ γὰρ ἐγώ, οὐ καθότι δέδεμαι καὶ δύναμαι νοεῖν τὰ ἐπουράνια καὶ τὰς ἀγγελικὰς τάξεις καὶ τὰς τῶν ἀρχαγγέλων καὶ στρατιῶν ἐξαλλαγάς, δυνάμεών τε καὶ κυριοτήτων διαφοράς, θρόνων τε καὶ ἐξουσιῶν παραλλαγὰς αἰώνων τε μεγαλότητας, τῶν τε Χερουβεὶμ καὶ Σεραφεὶμ τὰς ὑπεροχάς, τοῦ τε πνεύματος τὴν ὑψηλότητα καὶ τοῦ κυρίου τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν τὸ τοῦ παντοκράτορος θεοῦ ἀπαράθετον· ταῦτα γινώσκων ἐγὼ οὐ πάντως ἤδη τετελείωμαι ἢ μαθητής εἰμι, οἷς Παῦλος καὶ Πέτρος· πολλὰ γάρ μοι λείπει, ἵνα θεοῦ μὴ ἀπολειφθῶ. Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς οὐκ ἐγώ, ἀλλ' ἡ ἀγάπη Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἵνα τὸ αὐτὸ λέγητε πάντες καὶ μὴ ᾖ ἐν ὑμῖν σχίσματα, ᾖτε δὲ κατηρτισμένοι τῇ αὐτῇ γνώμῃ καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ νοΐ. εἰσὶ γάρ τινες ματαιολόγοι καὶ φρεναπάται, οὐ Χριστιανοί, ἀλλὰ χριστέμποροι, ἀπάτῃ περιφέροντες τὸ ὄνομα Χριστοῦ καὶ καπηλεύοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ εὐαγγελίου καὶ τὸν ἰὸν προσπλέκοντες τῆς πλάνης τῇ γλυκείᾳ προσηγορίᾳ, ὥσπερ οἰνομέλιτι κώνειον κεραννύντες, ἵνα ὁ πίνων τῇ γλυκυτάτῃ κλαπεὶς ποιότητι τὴν γευστικὴν αἴσθησιν ἀφυλάκτως τῷ θανάτῳ περιπαρῇ. παραινεῖ τις τῶν παλαιῶν· Mηδεὶς ἀγαθὸς λεγέσθω κακῷ τὸ ἀγαθὸν κεραννύς. λέγουσι γὰρ Χριστόν, οὐχ ἵνα Χριστὸν κηρύξωσιν, ἀλλ' ἵνα Χριστὸν ἀθετήσωσιν· καὶ οὐ νόμον προφέρουσιν, ἵνα νόμον συστήσωσιν, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἀνομίαν καταγγείλωσιν· τὸν μὲν γὰρ Χριστὸν ἀλλοτριοῦσι τοῦ πατρός, τὸν δὲ νόμον τοῦ Χριστοῦ. τὴν ἐκ παρθένου γέννησιν διαβάλλουσιν, ἐπαισχυνόμενοι τὸν σταυρὸν τὸ πάθος ἀρνοῦνται καὶ τὴν ἀνάστασιν οὐ πιστεύουσι· τὸν θεὸν ἄγνωστον εἰσηγοῦνται, τὸν Χριστὸν ἀγέννητον νομίζουσι, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα οὐδὲ ὅτι ἔστιν ὁμολογοῦσι. τινὲς δὲ αὐτῶν τὸν μὲν υἱὸν ψιλὸν ἄνθρωπον εἶναι λέγουσι, ταὐτὸν δὲ εἶναι πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν καὶ πνεῦμα ἅγιον, καὶ τὴν κτίσιν ἔργον θεοῦ, οὐ διὰ Χριστοῦ, ἀλλ' ἑτέρου τινός, ἀλλοτρίας δυνάμεως.

Ἀσφαλίζεσθε οὖν τοὺς τοιούτους, ἵνα μὴ λάβητε βρόχον ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ψυχαῖς· καὶ τὸν βίον ὑμῶν ἀπρόσκοπον τίθεσθε πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις, ἵνα μὴ γένησθε παγὶς τῇ σκοπιᾷ καὶ ὡς δίκτυον ἐκτεταμένον. ὁ μὴ ἰώμενος γὰρ ἑαυτὸν ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις ἑαυτοῦ ἀδελφός ἐστι τοῦ λυμαινομένου ἑαυτόν. ἐὰν οὖν καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀποθῆσθε φυσίωσιν, ἀλαζονείαν, τύφον, ὑπεροψίαν, δυνατὸν ὑμῖν ἐστιν εἶναι ἀχωρίστους θεοῦ· ἐγγὺς γάρ ἐστι τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτόν, καί· Ἐπὶ τίνα, φησίν, ἐπιβλέψω ἀλλ' ἢ ἐπὶ τὸν ταπεινὸν καὶ ἡσύχιον καὶ τρέμοντά μου τοὺς λόγους; αἰδεῖσθε δὲ καὶ τὸν ἐπίσκοπον ὑμῶν ὡς Χριστόν, καθὰ ὑμῖν οἱ μακάριοι διετάξαντο ἀπόστολοι. ὁ ἐντὸς τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ὢν καθαρός ἐστιν· διὸ καὶ ὑπακούει τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ καὶ τοῖς πρεσβυτέροις· ὁ δὲ ἐκτὸς ὤν, οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ χωρὶς τοῦ ἐπισκόπου καὶ τῶν