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of an opposing power. That evils are by nature. That also before the transgression Adam had intercourse with Eve without passion. That seed and a word fell into Mary. That a person must acquire two souls, they say, one that is common to humans and one that is heavenly. That it is possible, he says, for a person to receive the substance of the Holy Spirit perceptibly, in all fullness and in all power. That to those who pray the cross can be revealed in light, and at a certain time a man can be found standing at the altar and three loaves mixed with oil brought to him. Furthermore, they also reject manual labor as not being fitting for Christians. And in part they also introduce inhumanity toward the poor, claiming that it is not fitting for those who renounce the world or those who are beginning to do good at all to provide for those who beg publicly or for abandoned widows or for those who have experienced various circumstances or mutilation of their bodies or diseases or harsh creditors or raids of robbers or barbarians or have fallen into any such misfortunes, but to supply everything to them; for they said that they themselves were the ones who were truly poor in spirit. To these things they added a contempt for churches and altars, as ascetics ought not to remain for ecclesiastical assemblies, but to be content with the prayers in their own oratories; for they said that the power of their prayer was so great that the Holy Spirit appeared perceptibly both to them and to those who had been discipled by them. For they talk monstrously of how those who wish to be saved must pray for so long, doing absolutely nothing else, until they perceive sin being driven out through prayer like some smoke or fire or a dragon or some such beast, and going out perceptibly through their prayers, and again perceptibly receive the entrance of the Holy Spirit and have a clear perception in their soul of the entrance of the Spirit. And that this is the true communion of Christians; for the baptized do not in any case partake of the Holy Spirit in the baptism of the church or in the ordinations of the clergy, unless one should partake more diligently through their prayers, and that someone could even receive communion of the Holy Spirit without baptism, if he should wish to remain with them and be discipled in their doctrines, so that when some presbyters said to them, "We confess that we have the Holy Spirit in faith and not by perception," they promised that the perception of the Spirit would be imparted to them also through prayer with them. And such is the smoke of their arrogance that those who have supposedly partaken with them of the perception of the Spirit are blessed by them as perfect and free from all sin and superior, and are to be attended to and revered as no longer subject to the dangers of sin, but henceforth there is for them relaxation and freedom in foods and every escort and honor and luxury, many of whom, even after such a testimony of perfection among them, do not deign to call Christians those who are outside; they were seen to have fallen into various shameful acts and thefts of money and fornications. And they talk monstrously of many other things in addition to what has been said, such as their dissolving lawful marriages most indifferently and receiving and blessing those who leave their marriages as ascetics, and they persuade fathers and mothers to neglect the raising of their children, charming them into bringing everything to them. And they readily receive runaway slaves from their masters and those who come to them from various sins without any fruit of repentance, without the authority of priests, without the stages prescribed by the ecclesiastical canons, to cleanse most quickly of all

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ἀντικειμένης δυνάμεως. Ὅτι φύσει τὰ κακά. Ὅτι καὶ πρὸ τῆς παραβάσεως ἀπαθῶς ἐκοινώνησεν ὁ Ἀδὰμ τῇ Εὔᾳ. Ὅτι σπέρμα καὶ λόγος ἔπεσεν εἰς τὴν Μαρίαν. Ὅτι δύο δεῖ κτήσασθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ψυχάς, φασί, μίαν τὴν κοινὴν ἀνθρώποις καὶ μίαν τὴν ἐπουράνιον. Ὅτι δυνατόν, φησί, δέξασθαι αἰσθητῶς τὴν ὑπόστασιν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἐν πάσῃ πληροφορίᾳ καὶ πάσῃ ἐνεργείᾳ. Ὅτι τοῖς εὐχομένοις δύναται φανεροῦσθαι ὁ σταυρὸς ἐν φωτὶ καὶ κατά τινα καιρὸν εὑρεθῆναι ἄνθρωπον παρεστῶτα τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ καὶ προσηνέχθαι αὐτῷ τρεῖς ἄρτους δι' ἐλαίου πεφυρμένους. Ἔτι δὲ ἀποστρέφονται καὶ τὴν ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν ἐργασίαν ὡς οὐ πρέπουσαν χριστιανοῖς. Κατὰ μέρος δὲ καὶ τὴν περὶ τοὺς πτωχοὺς ἀπανθρωπίαν εἰσάγοντες φάσκοντες, ὡς οὐχὶ τοῖς δημοσίᾳ προσαιτοῦσιν ἢ ταῖς καταλελειμμέναις χήραις οὐδὲ τοῖς διαφόροις περιστάσεσι χρησαμένοις ἢ λώβῃ σωμάτων ἢ νόσοις ἢ πικροῖς δανεισταῖς ἢ λῃστῶν ἢ βαρβάρων ἐπιδρομαῖς ἤ τισι τοιαύταις συμφοραῖς περιπεπτωκόσιν ἐπαρκεῖν ἁρμότ τον τοὺς ἀποταττομένους ἢ τοὺς ὅλως ἀγαθοεργεῖν ἀρχομένους, ἀλλ' αὐτοῖς ἅπαντα χορηγεῖν· ἑαυτοὺς γὰρ ἔφασκον εἶναι τοὺς ἀληθῶς πτωχεύοντας τῷ πνεύματι. Τούτοις προσετίθεσαν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν καὶ τῶν θυσιαστηρίων ὑπεροψίαν, ὡς δέον τοὺς ἀσκητὰς ἐκκλησιαστικαῖς μὲν μὴ παραμένειν συνάξεσιν, ἀρκεῖσθαι δὲ ταῖς ἐν τοῖς εὐκτηρίοις αὐτῶν εὐχαῖς· τοσαύτην γὰρ ἔλεγον εἶναι τῆς προσευχῆς αὐτῶν δύναμιν, ὥστε αὐτοῖς τε καὶ τοῖς παρ' αὐτῶν μαθητευθεῖσιν αἰσθητῶς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐπιφαίνεσθαι. Τερατεύονται γάρ, ὡς χρὴ τοὺς σωθῆναι βουλομένους ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον προσεύχεσθαι, οὐδὲν τὸ παράπαν ἕτερον διαπραττομένους, ἕως ἂν τῆς μὲν ἁμαρτίας αἴσθωνται καθάπερ καπνοῦ τινος ἢ πυρὸς ἢ δράκοντος ἤ τινος τοιούτου θηρίου διὰ τῆς προσευχῆς ἐξελαυνομένης καὶ αἰσθητῶς διὰ τῶν προσευχῶν ἐξιούσης, τοῦ πνεύματος δὲ τοῦ ἁγίου πάλιν τὴν εἴσοδον αἰσθητῶς ὑποδέξωνται καὶ φανερὰν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ἔχωσιν αἴσθησιν τῆς εἰσόδου τοῦ πνεύματος. Καὶ ταύτην εἶναι τὴν ἀληθινὴν χριστιανῶν κοινωνίαν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἢ ταῖς τῶν κληρικῶν χειροτονίαις ἁγίου πνεύματος πάντως μεταλαμβάνειν τοὺς βαπτιζομένους, εἰ μὴ ταῖς αὐτῶν προσευχαῖς φιλοπονώτερον κοινωνήσειεν, καὶ λαβεῖν ἄν τινα καὶ δίχα τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἁγίου πνεύματος κοινωνίαν, εἰ παραμένειν αὐτοῖς ἐθελήσειε καὶ τοῖς ἐκείνων μαθητεύεσθαι δόγμασιν, ὡς καὶ πρεσβυτέρων τινῶν εἰπόντων αὐτοῖς, ὅτι ἐν πίστει τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ὁμολογοῦμεν ἔχειν καὶ οὐκ αἰσθήσει, ἐπαγγείλασθαι καὶ αὐτοῖς διὰ τῆς σὺν αὐτοῖς προσευχῆς μεταδοθήσεσθαι τῆς αἰσθήσεως τοῦ πνεύματος. Τοσοῦτος δέ ἐστιν αὐτῶν τῆς ἀλαζονείας ὁ τῦφος, ὡς τοὺς μετασχόντας παρ' αὐτοῖς δῆθεν τῆς τοῦ πνεύματος αἰσθήσεως μακαρίζεσθαι ὑπ' αὐτῶν ὡς τελείους καὶ πάσης ἁμαρτίας ἐλευθέρους καὶ κρείττονας καὶ περιέπειν καὶ σέβεσθαι ὡς μὴ ὑποκειμένους ἔτι κινδύνοις ἁμαρτίας, ἀλλὰ λοιπὸν ἄνεσιν καὶ βρωμάτων ἄδειαν καὶ πᾶσαν ὑπάρχειν αὐτοῖς δορυφορίαν καὶ τιμὴν καὶ τρυφήν, ὧν πολλοὶ καὶ μετὰ τὴν τοιαύτην παρ' αὐτοῖς μαρτυρίαν τῆς τελειότητος εἰς τοὺς ἐκτὸς ὄντας οὔτε χριστιανοὺς προσαγορεύειν ἀξιοῦσιν· αἰσχρουργίαις διαφόροις καὶ χρημάτων κλοπαῖς καὶ πορνείαις περιπεσόντες ὤφθησαν. Πολλὰ δὲ καὶ ἕτερα πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις τερατεύονται, ὡς καὶ γάμους ἐνθέσμους ἀδιαφορώτατα διαλύειν αὐτοὺς καὶ τοὺς τῶν γάμων ἀφισταμένους ὡς ἀσκητὰς προσλαμβάνεσθαι καὶ μακαρίζειν, καὶ πατέρας καὶ μητέρας τεκνοτροφίας ἀμελεῖν πείθουσιν, αὐτοῖς δὲ προσκομίζειν πάντα κατεπᾴδοντες. ∆ούλους δὲ δεσποτῶν ἀποδιδράσκοντας ἑτοίμως παραδέχονται καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ διαφόρων ἁμαρτημάτων αὐτοῖς προσιόντας ἄνευ καρποῦ τινος μετανοίας, ἄνευ ἱερέων αὐθεντίας, ἄνευ βαθμῶν τῶν τοῖς κανόσι τοῖς ἐκκλησιαστικοῖς διηγορευμένων τάχιστα καθαίρειν παντὸς