the crooked into a straight path.” For each of us was crooked; therefore, in the coming of Christ that takes place in the soul, “the crooked things become a straight path.” And again, our life was rough and our speech uneven; but our Lord, having come, has made all things smooth. 22.135 We who were once “flesh” in our thinking, now in spirit we see “the salvation of God”; or while still bearing flesh, we paradoxically see “the salvation of God.” But concerning “all” and “every” you will inquire, and when these things, having begun both universally and for each one, will be completed. 22.136 See how great is the “wrath to come”? It overthrows the world, it punishes those who need discipline; and each one creates material for it from what he has done. 22.137 “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.” And what are the fruits? “Peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control” and the things consistent with these, which are also called “the fruits of the spirit.” He prophesies, therefore, the tearing down of that people and the calling of the nations; for to those who boast of Abraham he says: “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’,” then concerning the nations he says: “for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.” For he says 22.138 to Abraham: “I have made you a father of many nations,” clearly meaning those through faith in Christ. What stones? He was not pointing to lifeless stones, but to men who were insensitive stones, since they worshiped stones and wood, and that which was written happened to them: “May those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them.” 22.139 Moreover, concerning the stones it is also written in the song in Exodus: “Let the nations be turned to stone, until this people passes by, which you have acquired,” so that clearly after the people have passed by, they might no longer be turned to stone, but might receive also a rational, human soul. 23.141 He introduced three groups of those asking John: one he named “crowds going out for baptism,” another he named “tax collectors,” and a third he named “soldiers.” What then does John say to them? “He who has two tunics, let him share with him who has none.” When I came upon this passage, I was investigating whether this commandment, as far as the literal sense is concerned, does not apply to the crowd but to the apostles; “he who has two tunics, let him share with him who has none”; for that it applies to the apostles is clear from what was written as having been said to them by the Savior, in which he told them 23.142 “not to take two tunics for the journey,” but see if you can take what was said about clothing in the discourse concerning nakedness for this: “he who has two tunics, let him share with him who has none.” But coming to a deeper level I say: for the Word wants us not to have and be clothed in “two tunics,” in one way the old, in another the new, but to put off the one, and to have the other. At the same time I was investigating this: “let him share with him who has none.” Who is it that has not <even one> garment on his skin and is not covered, so that one might share with him? -I am not saying this, that it cannot also hyperbolically be 23.143 an exhortation to the need to clothe the poor and not neglect the commandment, but that it can also be said in this more mystical way: [but] either the devil who has nothing good, who does not have God. <And as it is written,> that we must, having stripped them off, as it were “drown our sins in the depths of the sea,” <so> we must cast our sins <upon him> as having become the cause for us of sinning. The same also for foods: according to the literal sense, one must share with him who has no food, but according to the hidden meaning, wicked things must be cast away to the demons. 23.144 “And tax collectors also came to be baptized.” Let this persuade the tax collectors not to take “more” than the regulation for tax collectors from those being taxed; for he who transgresses this and demands “more than what is appointed” transgresses a commandment, not of John, but of the Holy Spirit in him. I know also of other tax collectors, who after our departure from here at the boundaries of the

σκολιὰ εἰς εὐθεῖαν». Ἕκαστος γὰρ ἡμῶν σκολιὸς ἦν· ἐν μὲν τοίνυν τῇ Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίᾳ τῇ γενομένῃ εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν γίνεται «τὰ σκολιὰ εἰς εὐθεῖαν». Καὶ πάλιν τραχὺς ἦν ἡμῶν ὁ βίος καὶ ἀνώμαλος ὁ λόγος· ἐλθὼν δὲ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν λεῖα πάντα πεποίηκεν. 22.135 Οἵ ποτε «σάρκες» τῷ φρονήματι, νῦν πνεύματι βλέπομεν «τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ»· ἢ ἔτι σαρκοφοροῦντες παραδόξως βλέπομεν «τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ». Περὶ δὲ τοῦ «πᾶσα» καὶ «πᾶν» ζητήσεις, καὶ πότε συντε λεσθήσεται ταῦτα ἀρξάμενα καὶ καθολικῶς καὶ καθ' ἕκαστον. 22.136 Ὅρα, πηλίκη ἐστὶν ἡ «μέλλουσα ὀργή»; Καταστρέφει τὸν κόσμον, κο λάζει τοὺς δεηθέντας παιδεύσεως· καὶ ὕλην αὐτῇ ἕκαστος ποιεῖ, ἐξ ὧν ἔπραξεν. 22.137 «Ποιήσατε οὖν καρποὺς ἀξίους τῆς μετανοίας». Τίνες δὲ οἱ καρποί; «Εἰρήνη, μακροθυμία, χρηστότης, ἀγαθωσύνη, πίστις, πραότης, ἐγ κράτεια» καὶ τὰ σύμφωνα τούτων, οἳ καὶ «τοῦ πνεύματος καρποὶ» λέγονται. Προφητεύει τοίνυν τὴν καθαί ρεσιν ἐκείνου τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ τὴν κλῆσιν τῶν ἐθνῶν· ἐκείνοις γὰρ αὐχοῦσι τὸν Ἀβραὰμ φησίν· «μὴ ἄρξησθε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς· πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν Ἀβραάμ», εἶτα περὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν λέγει· «λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν, ὅτι δύ ναται ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ». Φησὶ 22.138 γὰρ πρὸς τὸν Ἀβραάμ· «πατέρα πολ λῶν ἐθνῶν τέθεικά σε», τῶν διὰ πίστεως δηλονότι τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ. Ποίων λίθων; Οὐ λίθους ἐδείκνυεν ἀψύχους, ἀλλ' ἀνθρώπους ἀναισθή τους ὄντας λίθους, ἐπειδήπερ λίθοις καὶ ξύλοις προσεκύνουν, καὶ ἐγένετο ἐπ' αὐτοῖς τὸ γεγραμμένον· «ὅμοιοι αὐτῶν γένοιντο οἱ ποιοῦντες αὐτὰ καὶ πάντες οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπ' αὐτοῖς». 22.139 Ἔτι δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν λίθων γέ γραπται ἐν τῇ ᾠδῇ τῇ ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ· «ἀπολιθωθήτωσαν τὰ ἔθνη, ἕως ἂν παρέλθῃ ὁ λαὸς οὗτος, ὃν ἐκτήσω», ὡς δηλονότι μετὰ τὸ παρελθεῖν τὸν λαὸν μηκέτι ἀπολιθωθείησαν, ἀλλ' ἀπολαβέτωσαν καὶ ψυχὴν λογικὴν ἀνθρωπίνην. 23.141 Τρία τάγματα εἰσήγαγε πυνθα νομένων τοῦ Ἰωάννου· ἓν μὲν ὠνό μασεν «ὄχλους ἐκπορευομένους ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα», ἄλλο δὲ ὠνόμασε «τε λώνας», τρίτον δὲ ὠνόμασε «στρα τιώτας». Τί οὖν φησιν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ Ἰωάν νης; «Ὁ ἔχων δύο χιτῶνας μεταδότω τῷ μὴ ἔχοντι». Γενόμενος ἐγὼ κατὰ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον ἐζήτουν, εἰ αὕτη ἡ ἐντολή, ὅσον ἐπὶ τῷ ῥητῷ, οὐ τῷ ὄχλῳ ἁρμόζει ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις· «ὁ ἔχων δύο χιτῶνας μεταδότω τῷ μὴ ἔχοντι»· ὅτι γὰρ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ἁρμόζει, δῆλον ἐκ τῶν ἀναγραφέν των ὡς ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος πρὸς αὐ τοὺς εἰρημένων, ἐν οἷς ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς 23.142 «μηδὲ δύο χιτῶνας εἰς ὁδὸν ἆραι», ἀλλ' ὅρα, εἰ τὰ εἰρημένα περὶ ἐνδύ ματος ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ περὶ τῆς γυμ νότητος δύνασαι παραλαβεῖν εἰς τό· «ὁ ἔχων δύο χιτῶνας μεταδότω τῷ μὴ ἔχοντι». Ἐρχόμενος δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ βαθύτερον λέγω· θέλει γὰρ ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος μὴ «δύο χιτῶνας» ἔχειν καὶ ἐνδεδύσθαι, πῆ μὲν τὸν παλαιόν, πῆ δὲ τὸν νέον, ἀλλ' ἐκδύσασθαι μὲν τὸν ἕτερον, τὸν δὲ ἕτερον ἔχειν. Ἅμα δὲ ἐζήτουν τό· «μεταδότω τῷ μὴ ἔχοντι». Τίς δέ ἐστιν ὁ μη<δὲ ἓν> ἔνδυμα ἔχων περὶ τὸν χρῶτα καὶ μὴ ἐσκεπασμένος ὥστε αὐτῷ με ταδιδόναι; -οὐ τοῦτο λέγω, ὅτι οὐ δύναται καὶ καθ' ὑπερβολὴν τοῦτο 23.143 προτρεπτικὸν εἶναι πρὸς τὸ δεῖν ἐν δύειν τοὺς πένητας καὶ μὴ ἀμελεῖν τῆς ἐντολῆς, ἀλλ' ὅτι δύναται καὶ οὕτως εἰρῆσθαι μυστικώτερον· [ἀλλ'] ἢ ὁ διάβολος ὁ μηδὲν ἔχων ἀγαθόν, ὁ τὸν θεὸν μὴ ἔχων. <Καὶ ὥσπερ γέγραπται,> ὅτι δεῖ ἡμᾶς ἀποδυσαμένους ὥσπερ «εἰς τὰ βάθη τῆς θαλάσσης καταποντίσαι τὰς ἁμαρτίας», <οὕτως> δεῖ ἐπιρρίπτειν τὰς ἁμαρτίας <αὐτῷ> ὡς αἰτίῳ γε νομένῳ ἡμῖν τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν. Τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν βρωμάτων· κατὰ μὲν τὸ πρόχειρον μεταδοτέον τῷ μὴ ἔχοντι τροφήν, κατὰ δὲ τὸ κρυπτό μενον τὰ φαῦλα τοῖς δαίμοσιν ἀπορ ριπτέον. 23.144 «Ἦλθον δὲ καὶ τελῶναι βαπτισθῆ ναι». Τοῦτο τοὺς τελώνας πεισάτω «πλέον» τῆς διατάξεως τῆς κατὰ τοὺς τελώνας μὴ λαμβάνειν ἀπὸ τῶν τελω νουμένων· ὁ γὰρ τοῦτο παραβαίνων καὶ «πλέον ὑπὲρ τὸ διατεταγμένον» ἀπαιτῶν παραβαίνει ἐντολήν, οὐκ Ἰωάννου, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ ἁγίου πνεύματος. Οἶδα καὶ ἄλλους τελώνας, οἳ μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἡμῶν ἀπαλλαγὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς τέρμασι τοῦ