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Gospel, but the aim is the bishop appointed for the Church, who must, while preaching, testify and give assurance concerning the judgment. For if you do not declare and testify to the people, the sin of those who are ignorant will be found upon you; therefore admonish and reprove with boldness those who live in lack of discipline, teach the ignorant, strengthen those who know, turn back those who are led astray. Speaking the same things about the same matters, brothers, we shall not sin; for from hearing often it is likely that some, being put to shame, might at least once do something good and abstain from evil things. For God says through the prophet: "Testify these things to them, perhaps they will hear your voice." And again: "If perhaps they will hear, if perhaps they will yield." And Moses says to the people: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord." And the Lord in the Gospel often reminds us, saying: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." And the wise Solomon says: "Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and do not forsake your mother's laws." And to this day they have not heard; and those who seem to have heard have disobeyed, having forsaken the one and only true God and having been dragged down into deadly and terrible heresies, about which we will speak again. But let it be known to you, beloved, that those who have been baptized into the death of the Lord Jesus, such persons ought no longer to sin. For just as the dead are inactive with respect to sin, so also those who have died with Christ are idle with respect to sin. We do not believe therefore, brothers, that anyone who has bathed in the bath of life still practices the wanton acts of the lawless; but he who has sinned after baptism, this man, if he does not repent and cease from offending, will be condemned to Gehenna. But if anyone is slandered by unbelievers for no longer practicing licentiousness with them, let such a one know that he is blessed before God, as our Lord also says in the Gospel: "Blessed are you, when they revile you and persecute you, or say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake; rejoice and be glad, because your reward is great in heaven." If therefore someone is blasphemed on a false charge, such a one is blessed; for Scripture says: "An unapproved man is untested before God." But if someone is convicted of having done something lawless, such a one has not only harmed himself, but has also attached blasphemy

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Eὐαγγέλιον, σκοπὸς δὲ ὁ κατασταθεὶς τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ ἐπίσκο πος, ὃν δεῖ κηρύσσοντα διαμαρτύρεσθαι καὶ διαβεβαιοῦσθαι περὶ τῆς κρίσεως. Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ διαγγείλητε καὶ δια μαρτύρησθε τῷ λαῷ, εἰς ὑμᾶς ἡ ἁμαρτία τῶν ἀγνοούντων εὑρεθήσεται· διὸ τοὺς ἀναστρεφομένους ἐν ἀπαιδευσίᾳ νουθετεῖτε καὶ ἐλέγχετε μετὰ παρρησίας, τοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας διδάσκετε, τοὺς ἐπισταμένους στηρίζετε, τοὺς πεπλανημένους ἐπιστρέφετε. Τὰ αὐτὰ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν λέγοντες, ἀδελφοί, οὐχ ἁμαρτησόμεθα· ἐκ γὰρ τοῦ πολλάκις ἀκούειν εἰκός τινας δυσωπηθέντας κἂν ἅπαξ τι τῶν καλῶν ποιῆσαι καὶ τῶν πονηρῶν παραιτήσασθαι. Λέγει γὰρ διὰ τοῦ προφήτου ὁ Θεὸς· «∆ιαμαρτύρει αὐτοῖς ταῦτα, ἴσως ἀκούσονται τῆς φωνῆς σου.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Ἐὰν ἄρα ἀκούσωσιν, ἐὰν ἄρα ἐνδῶσιν.» Καὶ ὁ Μωϋσῆς φησιν τῷ λαῷ· «Ἄκουε, Ἰσραήλ, Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου Κύριος εἷς ἐστιν.» Καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐν τῷ Eὐαγγελίῳ πολλάκις μιμνήσκεται λέγων· «Ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω.» Καὶ ὁ σοφὸς Σολομών φησιν· «Ἄκουε, υἱέ, παιδείαν πατρός σου, καὶ μὴ ἀπώσῃ θεσμοὺς μητρός σου.» Καὶ μέχρι σήμερον οὐκ ἤκουσαν· καὶ οἱ δοκοῦντες δὲ ἀκηκοέναι παρήκουσαν, καταλείψαντες τὸν ἕνα καὶ μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν καὶ εἰς τὰς ὀλεθρίους καὶ δεινὰς αἱρέσεις κατασυρέντες, περὶ ὧν αὖθις ἐροῦμεν. Γνωστὸν δὲ ἔστω ὑμῖν, ἀγαπητοί, ὅτι οἱ βαπτι σθέντες εἰς τὸν θάνατον τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ, οὐκέτι ὀφείλουσιν ἁμαρτάνειν οἱ τοιοῦτοι. Ὡς γὰρ οἱ ἀποθανόντες ἀνενέργητοι πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν τυγχάνουσιν, οὕτως καὶ οἱ συναποθανόντες τῷ Χριστῷ ἄπρακτοι πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν. Oὐ πιστεύομεν οὖν, ἀδελφοί, λουσάμενόν τινα τὸ τῆς ζωῆς λουτρὸν ἔτι πράσσειν τὰ τῶν ἀνόμων ἀσελγήματα· ὁ δὲ ἁμαρτήσας μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα, οὗτος, ἐὰν μὴ μεταγνῷ καὶ παύσηται τοῦ πλημμελεῖν, εἰς γέενναν κατακριθήσεται. Eἰ δέ τις ὑπὸ ἀπίστων συκοφαντηθῇ διὰ τὸ μηκέτι αὐτοῖς συνασελγαίνειν, γινωσκέτω ὁ τοιοῦτος ὅτι μακάριος ὑπάρχει παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ Eὐαγγελίῳ λέγει· «Μακάριοί ἐστε, ὅταν ὀνειδίσωσιν ὑμᾶς καὶ διώξωσιν ἢ εἴπωσιν καθ' ὑμῶν πᾶν πονηρὸν ῥῆμα ψευδόμενοι ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ· χαίρετε καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε, ὅτι ὁ μισθὸς ὑμῶν πολὺς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.» Eἰ οὖν τις βλασφημηθείη ἐπὶ ψεύσματι, μακάριος ὁ τοιοῦτος· λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή· «Ἀνὴρ ἀδόκιμος ἀπείραστος παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ.» Eἰ δέ τις ἐλεγχθῇ πράξας τι ἄνομον, ὁ τοιοῦτος οὐ μόνον ἑαυτὸν ἔβλαψεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ βλασφημίαν προσέτριψεν