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doing anything of the presbyters and the deacons; such a one is defiled in conscience and is worse than an unbeliever. For what is a bishop but one who holds all rule and authority beyond all men, as far as it is possible for a man to hold, becoming an imitator, according to his power, of Christ the God? And what is the presbytery but a sacred assembly, counselors and fellow-councilors of the bishop? And what are deacons but imitators of Christ, ministering to the bishop as Christ to the Father, and serving him with a pure and blameless ministry, as Stephen the holy to James the blessed, and Timothy and Linus to Paul, and Anencletus and Clement to Peter? He, therefore, who disobeys these would be altogether godless and impious, setting Christ at naught and belittling His ordinance. But I am writing these things to you, not because I have known of any such people among you (nay, may God never even allow such a thing to come to my ears, He who did not spare His own Son for the sake of the holy church), but foreseeing the snares of the evil one I am fortifying you beforehand with my instructions, as my beloved and faithful children in Christ, giving you beforehand the antidotes against the pestilential disease of the insubordinate, which disease you are escaping by the good pleasure of Christ our Lord. You, therefore, taking up gentleness, become imitators of the sufferings of Christ and of His love with which He loved us, giving Himself a ransom for us, that by His blood He might cleanse us from our old impiety and give us life, we who were just about to perish by the wickedness in us. Therefore let none of you have anything against his neighbor; for "forgive," says our Lord, "and it will be forgiven you." Give no occasions to the Gentiles, so that the word and the teaching may not be blasphemed on account of a few foolish men. For "woe," says the prophet, as from the person of God, "to him through whom My name is blasphemed among the Gentiles." Be deaf, therefore, when anyone speaks to you apart from Jesus Christ, the son of God, who was of the line of David, who was of Mary, who was truly born both of God and of a virgin, but not in the same way; for God and man are not the same thing. He truly took a body; for the Word became flesh; and He lived His life without sin; for "Which of you," He says, "convicts me of sin?" He truly ate and drank, was crucified and died under Pontius Pilate; and He was truly, and not in appearance, crucified and died, in the sight of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, of those in heaven as the bodiless natures, of those on earth both Jews and Romans and the men present at that time when the Lord was crucified, and of those under the earth as the multitude who rose with the Lord; for "many," it says, "bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, the tombs being opened." And He descended into Hades alone, but ascended with a multitude, and tore the partition which had been from eternity and broke down its middle wall, and He rose after three days, the Father having raised Him, and after spending forty days with the apostles He was taken up to the Father and sat at His right hand, waiting until His enemies are put under His feet. Therefore on the Preparation, at the third hour, He received sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting it; at the sixth hour He was crucified, at the ninth He gave up the spirit, before sunset He was buried; on the Sabbath He remained under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathea laid Him; at the dawning of the Lord's day He rose from the dead, according to what was said by Him: "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." The Preparation, therefore, contains the passion, the Sabbath the burial, the Lord's day the resurrection. But if, as some who are godless, that is, unbelievers, say, He became man in appearance, did not truly take a body, and seemed to die, not having suffered in reality, for what reason am I in chains and pray to fight with wild beasts? Then I die in vain, then I lie against the cross of the Lord and the prophet is superfluous;

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πρεσβυτέρων καὶ τῶν διακόνων τι πράσσων· ὁ τοιοῦτος μεμίανται τῇ συνειδήσει καὶ ἔστιν ἀπίστου χείρων. τί γάρ ἐστιν ἐπίσκοπος ἀλλ' ἢ πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας ἐπέκεινα πάντων κρατῶν, ὡς οἷόν τε ἄνθρωπον κρατεῖν μιμητὴν γινόμενον κατὰ δύναμιν Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ; τί δὲ πρεσβυτέριον ἀλλ' ἢ σύστημα ἱερόν, σύμβουλοι καὶ συνεδρευταὶ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου; τί δὲ διάκονοι ἀλλ' ἢ μιμηταὶ Χριστοῦ, διακονοῦντες τῷ ἐπισκόπῳ ὡς Χριστὸς τῷ πατρὶ καὶ λειτουργοῦντες αὐτῷ λειτουργίαν καθαρὰν καὶ ἄμωμον, ὡς Στέφανος ὁ ἅγιος Ἰακώβῳ τῷ μακαρίῳ καὶ Tιμόθεος καὶ Λῖνος Παύλῳ καὶ Ἀνέγκλητος καὶ Kλήμης Πέτρῳ; ὁ τοίνυν τούτων παρακούων ἄθεος πάμπαν εἴη ἂν καὶ δυσσεβής, ἀθετῶν Χριστὸν καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ διάταξιν σμικρύνων. Ἐγὼ δὲ ταῦτα ὑμῖν ἐπιστέλλω, οὐχ ὅτι ἔγνων τοιούτους τινὰς ἐν ὑμῖν (ἀλλὰ μηδὲ συγχωρήσειέν ποτε ὁ θεὸς τοιοῦτον εἰς ἀκοὰς ἐλθεῖν τὰς ἐμάς, ὁ μὴ φεισάμενος τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ διὰ τὴν ἁγίαν ἐκκλησίαν), ἀλλὰ προορῶν τὰς ἐνέδρας τοῦ πονηροῦ ταῖς παραγγελίαις προασφαλίζομαι ὑμᾶς ὡς τέκνα μου ἀγαπητὰ καὶ πιστὰ ἐν Χριστῷ, προποτίζων ὑμᾶς τὰ φυλακτικὰ τῆς λοιμικῆς τῶν ἀνυποτάκτων νόσου, ἧς ὑμεῖς ἀποφεύγετε τὴν νόσον εὐδοκίᾳ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν. ὑμεῖς οὖν ἀναλαβόντες πραότητα γίνεσθε μιμηταὶ παθημάτων Χριστοῦ καὶ ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ, ἣν ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς, δοὺς ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν λύτρον, ἵνα τῷ αἵματι αὑτοῦ καθαρίσῃ ἡμᾶς παλαιᾶς δυσσεβείας καὶ ζωὴν ἡμῖν παράσχηται, μέλλοντας ὅσον οὐδέπω ἀπόλλυσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν κακίας. μηδεὶς οὖν ὑμῶν τι κατὰ τοῦ πλησίον ἐχέτω· ἄφετε γάρ, φησὶν ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν, καὶ ἀφεθήσεται ὑμῖν. μὴ ἀφορμὰς δίδοτε τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ἵνα μὴ ὀλίγων τινῶν ἀφρόνων εἵνεκεν ὁ λόγος καὶ ἡ διδασκαλία βλασφημῆται. οὐαὶ γάρ, φησὶν ὁ προφήτης ὡς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ, δι' οὗ τὸ ὄνομά μου βλασφημεῖται ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν. Kωφώθητε οὖν, ὅταν ὑμῖν χωρὶς Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ λαλῇ τις, τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ γενομένου ἐκ ∆αυίδ, τοῦ ἐκ Mαρίας, ὃς ἀληθῶς ἐγεννήθη καὶ ἐκ θεοῦ καὶ ἐκ παρθένου, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὡσαύτως· οὐδὲ γὰρ ταὐτὸν θεὸς καὶ ἄνθρωπος. ἀληθῶς ἀνέλαβεν σῶμα· ὁ λόγος γὰρ σὰρξ ἐγένετο· καὶ ἐπολιτεύσατο ἄνευ ἁμαρτίας· τίς γάρ, φησίν, ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐλέγχει με περὶ ἁμαρτίας; ἔφαγεν καὶ ἔπιεν ἀληθῶς, ἐσταυρώθη καὶ ἀπέθανεν ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου· ἀληθῶς δὲ καὶ οὐ δοκήσει ἐσταυρώθη καὶ ἀπέθανεν βλεπόντων οὐρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων, οὐρανίων μὲν ὡς τῶν ἀσωμάτων φύσεων, ἐπιγείων τε Ἰουδαίων καὶ Ῥωμαίων καὶ τῶν παρόντων κατ' ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ ἀνθρώπων σταυρουμένου τοῦ κυρίου, καταχθονίων δὲ ὡς τοῦ πλήθους τοῦ συναναστάντος τῷ κυρίῳ· πολλὰ γάρ, φησίν, σώματα τῶν κεκοιμημένων ἁγίων ἠγέρθη τῶν μνημείων ἀνεῳχθέντων. καὶ κατῆλθεν εἰς ᾅδην μόνος, ἀνῆλθεν δὲ μετὰ πλήθους καὶ ἔσχισεν τὸν ἀπ' αἰῶνος φραγμὸν καὶ τὸ μεσότοιχον αὐτοῦ ἔλυσεν, καὶ ἀνέστη διὰ τριῶν ἡμερῶν ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν τοῦ πατρός, καὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας συνδιατρίψας τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἀνελήφθη πρὸς τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ περιμένων, ἕως ἂν τεθῶσιν οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ. τῇ οὖν παρασκευῇ τρίτῃ ὥρᾳ ἀπόφασιν ἐδέξατο παρὰ τοῦ Πιλάτου συγχωρήσαντος τοῦ πατρός, ἕκτῃ ὥρᾳ ἐσταυρώθη, ἐννάτῃ ἀπέπνευσεν, πρὸ ἡλίου δύσεως ἐτάφη· τὸ σάββατον ὑπὸ γῆν μένει ἐν τῷ μνημείῳ, ᾧ ἀπέθετο αὐτὸν Ἰωσὴφ ὁ ἀπὸ Ἀριμαθείας· ἐπιφωσκούσης κυριακῆς ἀνέστη ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ· Ὥσπερ ἦν Ἰωνᾶς ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας, οὕτως ἔσται καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῆς γῆς τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας. περιέχει οὖν ἡ μὲν παρασκευὴ τὸ πάθος, τὸ σάββατον τὴν ταφήν, ἡ κυριακὴ τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Eἰ δέ, ὥσπερ τινὲς ἄθεοι ὄντες, τουτέστιν ἄπιστοι, λέγουσι, τὸ δοκήσει γεγενῆσθαι αὐτὸν ἄνθρωπον, οὐκ ἀληθῶς ἀνειληφέναι σῶμα, καὶ τὸ δοκεῖν τεθνηκέναι, πεπονθέναι οὐ τῷ ὄντι, τίνος ἕνεκεν ἐγὼ δέδεμαι καὶ εὔχομαι θηριομαχῆσαι; δωρεὰν οὖν ἀποθνήσκω, ἄρα καταψεύδομαι τοῦ σταυροῦ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ περιττὸς ὁ προφήτης·