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I rejoiced; but if he persists in being unfeeling, let him be cut off, as a rotten and corrupt member from the body. For it is written: It is better that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body be cast into hell.

QUESTION 45. If someone, having heard the Lord say, that ‘The servant who knew his master’s will, and did not do it, nor prepare himself for his will, will be beaten with many stripes; but he who did not know, yet did things deserving of stripes, will be beaten with few,’ neglects the knowledge of the Lord’s will, whether he has this consolation. RESPONSE. Such a person is clearly feigning ignorance, and has an inescapable judgment for his sin. For, ‘If I had not come,’ says the Lord, ‘and spoken to them, they would have no sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin,’ since the holy Scripture everywhere proclaims the will of God to all. Therefore such a person is not judged less with those who were ignorant, but is condemned more severely with those about whom it is written: ‘Like a deaf asp that stops its ears, which does not hear the voice of charmers, or of the cunning enchanter.’ However, he who is entrusted with the stewardship of the word, if he neglects to proclaim it, is judged as a murderer, as it is written.

QUESTION 46. Whether he who tolerates another in committing a sin is guilty of the sin. RESPONSE. This judgment is clear from the Lord’s words to Pilate, when He said, ‘He who delivered me to you has the greater sin.’ For it is clear from this that Pilate also, by tolerating those who delivered Him up, had a sin, even if a lesser one. And Adam clearly shows this by tolerating Eve; and Eve by tolerating the serpent; for neither of them was left unpunished as if innocent. And the indignation of God against them carefully demonstrates this; for when Adam, instead of an apology, offered, ‘The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me, and I ate;’ God answers: ‘Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and 31.1113 have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground for your sake,’ and so forth.

QUESTION 47. Whether one must be silent about those who sin. RESPONSE. That one must not is clear from the Lord's commandments, for in the Old Testament He said: ‘You shall certainly rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him;’ and in the Gospel: ‘If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not listen, take with you one or two more, that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a Gentile and a tax collector.’ And how great is the judgment of this sin, it is possible to know first from the Lord’s declaration when he said universally: ‘He who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him;’ then also from the histories recorded in both the Old and the New Scripture. For behold Achan, when he stole the golden tongue and the mantle, the wrath of the Lord came upon all the people, although they were ignorant of both the sinner and the sin, until the aforementioned was revealed, and he endured that terrible destruction along with all his own. And Eli, although he was not silent about his own sons, who were sons of pestilence, but often admonished them, and said, ‘No, my children, it is no good report that I hear of you,’ and with much talk established both the absurdity of the sin and the inescapability of the judgment, because he did not punish at all, nor show the proper zeal against them, he so provoked the wrath of God that the people were consumed along with his sons, and the ark itself was taken by the foreigners, and he himself on account of these things a miserable end

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εὐφράνθην· ἐὰν δὲ ἐπιμένῃ ἀναισθη τῶν, ἀποκοπτέσθω, ὡς τὸ σεσηπὸς καὶ διεφθαρμέ νον μέλος ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος. Γέγραπται γάρ· Συμ φέρει ἵνα ἀπόληται ἓν τῶν μελῶν σου, καὶ μὴ ὅλον τὸ σῶμά σου βληθῇ εἰς γέενναν

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΜΕʹ. Ἐάν τις, ἀκούσας τοῦ Κυρίου εἰπόντος, ὅτι Ὁ δοῦ λος ὁ γνοὺς τὸ θέλημα τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ, καὶ μὴ ποιήσας, μηδὲ ἑτοιμάσας πρὸς τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ, δαρήσεται πολλάς· ὁ δὲ μὴ γνοὺς, ποι ήσας δὲ ἄξια πληγῶν, δαρήσεται ὀλίγας, ἀμε λήσῃ τῆς γνώσεως τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου θελημά των, εἰ ἔχει τὴν παραμυθίαν. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. ∆ῆλός ἐστιν ὁ τοιοῦτος σχηματιζόμενος τὴν ἄγνοιαν, καὶ ἄφευκτον ἔχει τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν κρίσιν. Εἰ μὴ ἦλθον γὰρ, φησὶν ὁ Κύριος, καὶ ἐλάλησα αὐ τοῖς, ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ εἶχον· νῦν δὲ πρόφασιν οὐκ ἔχουσι περὶ σῆς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν, τῆς ἁγίας Γρα φῆς πανταχοῦ πᾶσι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ διαγ γελλούσης. Ὥστε οὐχὶ μετὰ τῶν ἀγνοησάντων ὁ τοι οῦτος ἔλαττον κρίνεται, ἀλλὰ μετ' ἐκείνων σφοδρότε ρον κατακρίνεται, περὶ ὧν γέγραπται· Ὡσεὶ ἀσπί δος κωφῆς, καὶ βυούσης τὰ ὦτα αὐτῆς, ἥτις οὐκ εἰσακούσεται φωνῆς ἐπᾳδόντων, φαρμακοῦ τε φαρμακευομένη παρὰ σοφοῦ. Ὁ μέντοι ἐπιτε ταγμένος τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ λόγου, ἐὰν ἀμελήσῃ τοῦ ἀναγγεῖλαι, ὡς φονεὺς κρίνεται, καθὼς γέγρα πται.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Μʹ. Εἰ ὁ ἑτέρου ἀνεχόμενος εἰς τὸ ποιῆσαι ἁμαρτίαν ἔνοχός ἐστι τῆς ἁμαρτίασ ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τοῦτο τὸ κρῖμα φανερὸν ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου πρὸς Πιλᾶτον ῥημάτων, εἰπόντος· Ὁ παραδιδούς με σοὶ μείζονα ἁμαρτίαν ἔχει. Σαφὲς γὰρ ἐκ τούτου, ὅτι καὶ ὁ Πιλᾶτος, ἀνεχόμενος τῶν παραδεδωκότων, ἁμαρτίαν εἶχεν, εἰ καὶ ἐλάττονα. Παρίστησι δὲ τοῦτο φανερῶς καὶ ὁ Ἀδὰμ ἀνασχόμενος τῆς Εὔας· καὶ ἡ Εὔα ἀνασχομένη τοῦ ὄφεως· οὐδεὶς γὰρ αὐτῶν ὡς ἀθῶος ἀτιμώρητος ἀφείθη. Καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατ' αὐτῶν ἀγανάκτησις ἐπιτετηρημένως τοῦτο ἐνδείκνυται· τοῦ γὰρ Ἀδὰμ ἀντὶ ἀπολογίας προσ ενεγκόντος τὸ, Ἡ γυνὴ, ἣν δέδωκας μετ' ἐμοῦ, αὕτη μοι ἔδωκε, καὶ ἔφαγον· ἀποκρίνεται ὁ Θεός· Ὅτι ἤκουσας τῆς φωνῆς τῆς γυναικός σου, καὶ 31.1113 ἔφαγες ἀπὸ τοῦ ξύλου, οὗ ἐνετειλάμην σοι, τού του μόνου μὴ φαγεῖν, ἐπικατάρατος ἡ γῆ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις σου. καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΜΖʹ. Εἰ δεῖ τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἐφησυχάζειν. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ὅτι μὲν οὐ δεῖ, φανερὸν ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου προσ ταγμάτων ἐν μὲν τῇ Παλαιᾷ ∆ιαθήκῃ εἰπόντος· Ἐλεγμῷ ἐλέγξεις τὸν πλησίον σου, καὶ οὐ λήψῃ δι' αὐτὸν ἁμαρτίαν· ἐν δὲ τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ· Ἐὰν ἁμάρτῃ εἰς σὲ ὁ ἀδελφός σου, ὕπαγε, ἔλεγ ξον αὐτὸν μεταξὺ σοῦ καὶ αὐτοῦ μόνου. Ἐάν σου ἀκούσῃ, ἐκέρδησας τὸν ἀδελφόν σου· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀκούσῃ, παράλαβε μετὰ σοῦ ἔτι ἕνα ἢ δύο, ἵνα ἐπὶ στόματος δύο μαρτύρων ἢ τριῶν στα θήσεται πᾶν ῥῆμα. Ἐὰν δὲ παρακούσῃ αὐ τῶν, εἰπὲ τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ· ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας παρακούσῃ, ἔστω σοι ὥσπερ ὁ ἐθνικὸς καὶ τελώνης. Ἡλίκον δέ ἐστι τὸ κρῖμα τοῦ ἁμαρ τήματος τούτου, ἔξεστι γνῶναι πρῶτον μὲν ἐξ ἀπο φάσεως τοῦ Κυρίου καθολικῶς εἰπόντος· Ὁ ἀπει θῶν τῷ Υἱῷ οὐκ ὄψεται τὴν ζωήν· ἀλλ' ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ μενεῖ ἐπ' αὐτόν· ἔπειτα καὶ ἐξ ἱστοριῶν ἔν τε τῇ Παλαιᾷ καὶ τῇ Καινῇ Γραφῇ φερομένων. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ ὁ μὲν Ἄχαρ, ἡνίκα ἔκλεψε τὴν γλῶσσαν τὴν χρυσῆν καὶ τὴν ψιλὴν, ἐπὶ πάντα τὸν λαὸν γέγονεν ὀργὴ Κυρίου, καίτοιγε ἀγνοήσαντα καὶ τὸν ἡμαρτηκότα καὶ τὸ ἁμάρτημα, μέχρις ὅτε ἐφανε ρώθη ὁ προειρημένος, καὶ τὸν φοβερὸν ἐκεῖνον ἅμα πᾶσι τοῖς ἰδίοις ὑπέμεινεν ὄλεθρον. Ὁ δὲ Ἠλεὶ καίπερ οὐκ ἐφησυχάσας τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ υἱοῖς, οἵτινες ἦσαν υἱοὶ λοιμοὶ, πολλάκις δὲ αὐτοῖς παραινέσας, καὶ εἰπὼν, Μὴ, τέκνα, οὐκ ἀγαθὰ ἀκούω περὶ ὑμῶν, καὶ λόγῳ πλείονι κατασκευάσας τῆς τε ἁμαρ τίας τὸ ἄτοπον καὶ τῆς κρίσεως τὸ ἄφευκτον, ὅτι μὴ ὅλως ἐξεδίκησε, μηδὲ τὸν πρέποντα ζῆλον κατ' αὐτῶν ἐπεδείξατο, τοσοῦτον παρώξυνε τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς καὶ τὸν λαὸν τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ συνανα λωθῆναι, καὶ τὴν κιβωτὸν αὐτὴν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων ληφθῆναι, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τούτοις οἰκτρῷ τέλει