14

to receive them without danger; but if not, being outside, to be sent away; so that the trial may be without loss to the brotherhood. One must also test if someone, having been caught in sins, shamelessly confesses the secret things of his shame, and becomes his own accuser; at the same time shaming and renouncing the fellow workers of his own evil deeds, according to the one who said: Depart from me, all you who work iniquity; and acquiring for himself security for his future life, so as not to fall into similar passions again. A common method of testing for all is if they are unashamedly disposed to all humility, so as to accept even the most menial trades, if reason approves their work as useful. And when through every examination each one is shown by those able to investigate such matters with knowledge, to be like a vessel useful to the Master, and ready for every good work, let him be numbered with those who have dedicated themselves to the Lord. And especially for the one hastening from some more distinguished life to the humility that is in the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is necessary to appoint some of those things that seem reproachful to those outside, and 31.948 to observe if with all full assurance he presents himself as a workman unashamed before God.

QUESTION 11. Concerning slaves. RESPONSE. As many slaves as are under a yoke

who take refuge with the brotherhoods, after they have been admonished and improved, they must be sent away to their masters, in imitation of the blessed Paul, who, having begotten Onesimus through the Gospel, sent him back to Philemon, assuring the one that the yoke of slavery, when rightly borne in a manner pleasing to the Lord, makes one worthy of the kingdom of heaven; and exhorting the other not only to remit the threat against him, remembering the true Lord who said, If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your trespasses, but also to have a kinder disposition toward him, by writing: For perhaps for this reason he was separated for a season, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother. If, however, the master should happen to be evil, commanding certain unlawful things, and compelling the slave toward transgression of the commandment of the true Master, our Lord Jesus Christ, one must struggle, so that the name of God may not be blasphemed because of that slave doing something which does not please God. And the struggle is set right either by that slave being equipped for patience in the sufferings brought upon him, in order to obey God rather than man, as it is written, or by those who received him undertaking, as is pleasing to God, the trials brought upon them on his behalf.

QUESTION 12. How one must receive those who are married. RESPONSE. And those

who are in the yoke of marriage coming to such a life must be examined, if they do this by agreement according to the command of the Apostle (For he says, he does not have authority over his own body); and so, in the presence of several witnesses, to receive the one who approaches. For nothing is more precious than obedience to God. But if the other 31.949 part should disagree, and contend, caring less for what is pleasing to God, let the Apostle be remembered, saying: But God has called us in peace; and let the command of the Lord be fulfilled, who said: If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his father, and his mother, and his wife, and his children, and the rest, he cannot be my disciple. For nothing is more precious than obedience to God. And we have known in many cases many times, both through intense prayer and unceasing fasting, that the purpose of a life in chastity prevailed, of the Lord

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ἀκινδύνως αὐτοὺς προσίεσθαι· εἰ δὲ μὴ, ἔξω ὄντας, ἀποπέμπεσθαι· ὥστε ἀζήμιον τὴν πεῖραν τῇ ἀδελφότητι γίνεσθαι. ∆οκιμάζειν δὲ χρὴ καὶ εἴ τις, ἐν ἁμαρτήμασι προληφθεὶς, ἀνεπαισχύντως ἐξαγο ρεύει τὰ κρυπτὰ τῆς αἰσχύνης, καὶ κατήγορος ἑαυ τοῦ γίνεται· ὁμοῦ τε καταισχύνων καὶ ἀπο ποιούμενος τοὺς τῶν πονηρῶν ἔργων ἑαυτοῦ συνερ γοὺς, κατὰ τὸν εἰπόντα· Ἀπόστητε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, πάν τες οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τὴν ἀνομίαν· καὶ ἀσφάλειαν ἑαυτῷ εἰς τὸν ἑξῆς βίον κτώμενος, πρὸς τὸ μηκέτι τοῖς ὁμοίοις πάθεσι περιπεσεῖν. Κοινὸς δὲ ἐπὶ πάν των δοκιμασίας τρόπος, εἰ πρὸς πᾶσαν ταπεινοφρο σύνην ἀνεπαισχύντως διάκεινται, ὡς καὶ τὰς εὐτελεστάτας δέχεσθαι τέχνας, ἐὰν τὴν ἐκείνων ἐρ γασίαν χρήσιμον εἶναι ὁ λόγος ἐγκρίνῃ. Καὶ ἐπει δὰν διὰ πάσης ἐξετάσεως ἕκαστος παρὰ τῶν ἐπιστημόνως ἐρευνᾷν. τὰ τοιαῦτα δυναμένων, ὥσπερ τι σκεῦος εὔχρηστον τῷ ∆εσπότῃ, καὶ πρὸς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἕτοιμον ἀποδειχθῇ, συναριθμείσθω τοῖς ἀνατεθεικόσιν ἑαυτοὺς τῷ Κυρίῳ. Μάλιστα δὲ τῷ ἀπό τινος περιφανεστέρου βίου πρὸς τὴν καθ' ὁμοίωσιν τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ταπεινο φροσύνην ἐπειγομένῳ, ὁρίζειν χρή τινα τῶν ἐπονειδίστων εἶναι δοκούντων παρὰ τοῖς ἔξωθεν, καὶ 31.948 ἐπιτηρεῖν εἰ μετὰ πάσης πληροφορίας ἐργάτην ἀν επαίσχυντον τῷ Θεῷ ἑαυτὸν παρίστησιν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΙΑʹ. Περὶ δούλων. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ὅσοι δὲ ὑπὸ ζυγὸν ὄντες δοῦλοι

ταῖς ἀδελφότησι προσφεύγουσι, νουθετηθέντας αὐτοὺς, καὶ βελτιωθέν τας ἀποπέμπεσθαι χρὴ τοῖς δεσπόταις, καθ' ὁμοίω σιν τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου, ὃς, τὸν Ὀνήσιμον γεννή σας διὰ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου, ἀνέπεμψε τῷ Φιλήμονι, τὸν μὲν πληροφορήσας, ὅτι ὁ ζυγὸς τῆς δουλείας εὐαρέστως τῷ Κυρίῳ κατορθούμενος βασιλείας οὐρα νῶν ἄξιον συνίστησι· τὸν δὲ παρακαλέσας οὐ μό νον ἀνεῖναι τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ ἀπειλὴν, μεμνημέ νον τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Κυρίου εἰπόντος, Ἐὰν ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, ἀφήσει καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τὰ παραπτώματα ὑμῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ χρηστοτέραν ἔχειν πρὸς αὐτὸν τὴν διάθεσιν, τῷ γράψαι· Τάχα γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο ἐχωρίσθη πρὸς ὥραν, ἵνα αἰώνιον αὐτὸν ἀπέχῃς, οὐκέτι ὡς δοῦλον, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ δοῦλον ἀδελφὸν ἀγαπητόν. Εἰ μέντοι κακὸς ὁ δεσπότης τύχοι, παράνομά τινα ἐπιτάσσων, καὶ πρὸς παράβασιν ἐντολῆς τοῦ ἀληθι νοῦ ∆εσπότου τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸν δοῦλον βιαζόμενος, ἀγωνίζεσθαι χρὴ, ὅπως μὴ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Θεοῦ βλασφημηθῇ διὰ τὸν δοῦλον ἐκεῖνον ποιήσαντά τι, ὃ μὴ ἀρέσκει Θεῷ. Κατ ορθοῦται δὲ ὁ ἀγὼν ἢ ἐν τῷ τὸν δοῦλον ἐκεῖνον κατ αρτισθῆναι πρὸς ὑπομονὴν τῶν ἐπιφερομένων αὐτῷ παθημάτων, ὑπὲρ τοῦ πειθαρχῆσαι Θεῷ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀνθρώπῳ, καθὼς γέγραπται, ἢ ἐν τῷ τοὺς ὑπο δεξαμένους ἀναδέξασθαι ὡς ἀρέσκει Θεῷ τοὺς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ἐπαγομένους αὐτοῖς πειρασμούς.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΙΒʹ. Ὅπως χρὴ τοὺς ἐν συζυγίᾳ προσδέχεσθαι. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Καὶ τοὺς

ἐν συζυγίᾳ δὲ γάμου τοιούτῳ βίῳ προσ ερχομένους ἀνακρίνεσθαι δεῖ, εἰ ἐκ συμφώνου τοῦτο ποιοῦσι κατὰ τὴν διαταγὴν τοῦ Ἀποστόλου (Τοῦ γὰρ ἰδίου σώματος, φησὶν, οὐκ ἐξουσιάζει)· καὶ οὕτως ἐπὶ πλειόνων μαρτύρων δέχεσθαι τὸν προσερχόμενον. Τῆς γὰρ πρὸς Θεὸν ὑπακοῆς οὐ δὲν προτιμότερον. Εἰ δὲ διαστασιάζοι τὸ ἕτερον 31.949 μέρος, καὶ διαμάχοιτο, ἔλαττον φροντίζον τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν εὐαρεστήσεως, μνημονευέσθω ὁ Ἀπόστολος λέγων· Ἐν δὲ εἰρήνῃ κέκληκεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεός· καὶ πληρούσθω τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ Κυρίου εἰπόντος· Εἴ τις ἔρχεται πρὸς μὲ, καὶ οὐ μισεῖ τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν μητέρα, καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα, καὶ τὰ τέκνα, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ, οὐ δύναταί μου εἶναι μαθητής. Τῆς γὰρ πρὸς Θεὸν ὑπακοῆς οὐδὲν προτι μότερον. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἔγνωμεν ἐν πολλοῖς πολλάκις καὶ διὰ συντόνου προσευχῆς καὶ νηστείας ἀνενδότου τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς ἐν ἀγνείᾳ ζωῆς περιγενόμενον, τοῦ Κυ ρίου