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the bishop to Christ, as Christ to the Father; and thus the unity is preserved through all things. And let the widows be not gadabouts, not gluttonous, not running around, but as Judith the most venerable, as Anna the most discreet. These things I do not command as an apostle (for who am I, or who is the house of my father, that I should call myself equal in honor to them?), but as your fellow soldier, holding the rank of a prompter.

My brothers, I am exceedingly poured out in loving you and, rejoicing over you, I make you secure; yet not I, but through me the Lord Jesus, in whom being bound I fear the more; for I am still imperfect. But your prayer to God will make me perfect, that I may attain the lot in which I was called, taking refuge in the gospel as the flesh of Jesus Christ and in the apostles as the presbytery of the church. And I love the prophets also as having announced Christ, as having partaken of the same spirit, of which the apostles also did. For as the false prophets and false apostles drew one and the same wicked and deceitful and people-deceiving spirit, so also the prophets and the apostles received one and the same holy spirit, good and ruling, both true and instructive, from God through Jesus Christ, a right spirit. For one is the God of the old and new covenant; one is the mediator of God and men for both the creation of things intelligible and perceptible and for a suitable and fitting providence; and one also is the Paraclete, who worked in Moses and prophets and apostles. All the saints therefore were saved in Christ, having hoped in him and having waited for him, and through him they obtained salvation, being saints worthy of love and worthy of admiration, attested by Jesus Christ in the gospel of our common hope. If anyone preaches one God of the law and prophets, but denies Christ to be the Son of God, he is a liar, as also his father the devil, and such a one is a pseudo-Jew of the lower circumcision. If anyone confesses Christ Jesus as Lord, but denies the God of the law and the prophets, saying that the maker of heaven and earth is not the Father of Christ, such a one has not stood in the truth, as also his father the devil, and such a one is a disciple of Simon the magician, but not of the Holy Spirit. If anyone says there is one God, and also confesses Christ Jesus, but thinks the Lord is a mere man, not God the only-begotten and wisdom and word of God, but thinks he consists of soul and body, such a one is a serpent, preaching deceit and error for the destruction of men, and such a one is poor in understanding, nicknamed Ebion. If anyone confesses these things, but calls lawful intercourse and the begetting of children corruption and defilement, or any of the foods abominable, such a one has the apostate dragon dwelling in him.If anyone confesses the Father and Son and Holy Spirit and praises the creation, but says the incarnation is a phantom and is ashamed of the passion, such a one has denied the faith no less than the Christ-killing Jews. If anyone confesses these things, and that God the Word dwelt in a human body, the Word being in himself as a soul in a body, because God was the indweller, but not a human soul, but says that unlawful unions are a good thing and sets pleasure as the goal of happiness, such as the falsely named Nicolaïtan, this man can be neither a lover of God nor a lover of Christ, but a corrupter of his own flesh and for this reason empty of the Holy Spirit and alien to Christ. All such men are pillars and tombs of the dead, on which are inscribed only the names of dead men.

Flee therefore the evil arts and snares of the spirit that is now at work in the sons of this age, lest being afflicted you grow weak in love. But all of you come together with an undivided heart and a willing soul, of one soul, being of one mind, always thinking the same things about the same things, both in ease and in dangers and in sorrows and in joys. I give thanks to God through Jesus

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ἐπίσκοπος τῷ Χριστῷ, ὡς ὁ Χριστὸς τῷ πατρί· καὶ οὕτως ἡ ἑνότης διὰ πάντων σώζεται. ἔστωσαν δὲ καὶ αἱ χῆραι μὴ ·εμβοί, μὴ λίχνοι, μὴ περιτροχάδες, ἀλλ' ὡς Ἰουδὶθ ἡ σεμνοτάτη, ὡς ἡ Ἄννα ἡ σωφρονεστάτη. ταῦτα οὐχ ὡς ἀπόστολος διατάσσομαι (τίς γάρ εἰμι ἐγώ, ἢ τίς ὁ οἶκος τοῦ πατρός μου, ἵνα ἰσότιμον ἑαυτὸν ἐκείνων εἴπω;), ἀλλ' ὡς συστρατιώτης ὑμῶν ὑποφωνητοῦ τάξιν ἐπέχων.

Ἀδελφοί μου, λίαν ἐκκέχυμαι ἀγαπῶν ὑμᾶς καὶ ὑπεραγαλλόμενος ἀσφαλίζομαι ὑμᾶς· οὐκ ἐγὼ δέ, ἀλλὰ δι' ἐμοῦ ὁ κύριος Ἰησοῦς, ἐν ᾧ δεδεμένος φοβοῦμαι μᾶλλον· ἔτι γάρ εἰμι ἀναπάρτιστος· ἀλλ' ἡ προσευχὴ ὑμῶν εἰς θεόν με ἀπαρτίσει, ἵνα ἐν ᾧ ἐκλήθην ἐπιτύχω, προσφυγὼν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ὡς σαρκὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις ὡς πρεσβυτερίῳ ἐκκλησίας. καὶ τοὺς προφήτας δὲ ἀγαπῶ ὡς Χριστὸν καταγγείλαντας, ὡς τοῦ αὐτοῦ πνεύματος μετασχόντας, οὗ καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι. ὡς γὰρ οἱ ψευδοπροφῆται καὶ οἱ ψευδαπόστολοι ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ εἵλκυσαν πονηρὸν καὶ ἀπατηλὸν καὶ λαοπλάνον πνεῦμα, οὕτω καὶ οἱ προφῆται καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἀγαθὸν καὶ ἡγεμονικὸν ἀληθές τε καὶ διδασκαλικὸν ἔλαβον παρὰ θεοῦ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εὐθὲς πνεῦμα. εἷς γὰρ ὁ θεὸς παλαιᾶς καὶ καινῆς διαθήκης· εἷς ὁ μεσίτης θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων εἴς τε δημιουργίαν νοητῶν καὶ αἰσθητῶν καὶ πρόνοιαν πρόσφορον καὶ κατάλληλον· εἷς δὲ καὶ ὁ παράκλητος, ὁ ἐνεργήσας ἐν Mωσῇ καὶ προφήταις καὶ ἀποστόλοις. πάντες οὖν οἱ ἅγιοι ἐν Χριστῷ ἐσώθησαν, ἐλπίσαντες εἰς αὐτὸν καὶ αὐτὸν ἀναμείναντες, καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ σωτηρίας ἔτυχον, ὄντες ἀξιαγάπητοι καὶ ἀξιοθαύμαστοι ἅγιοι, ὑπὸ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μεμαρτυρημένοι ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τῆς κοινῆς ἐλπίδος. Ἐάν τις θεὸν νόμου καὶ προφητῶν κηρύττῃ ἕνα, Χριστὸν δὲ ἀρνῆται υἱὸν εἶναι θεοῦ, ψεύστης ἐστίν, ὡς καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ὁ διάβολος, καὶ ἔστιν ὁ τοιοῦτος τῆς κάτω περιτομῆς ψευδοϊουδαῖος. ἐάν τις ὁμολογῇ Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν κύριον, ἀρνῆται δὲ τὸν θεὸν τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν, οὐκ εἶναι λέγων τὸν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς ποιητὴν πατέρα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ τοιοῦτος ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ οὐχ ἕστηκεν, ὡς καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ὁ διάβολος, καὶ ἔστιν ὁ τοιοῦτος Σίμωνος τοῦ μάγου, ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος μαθητής. ἐάν τις λέγῃ μὲν ἕνα θεόν, ὁμολογῇ δὲ καὶ Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν, ψιλὸν δὲ ἄνθρωπον εἶναι νομίζῃ τὸν κύριον, οὐχὶ θεὸν μονογενῆ καὶ σοφίαν καὶ λόγον θεοῦ, ἀλλ' ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος αὐτὸν εἶναι νομίζῃ, ὁ τοιοῦτος ὄφις ἐστίν, ἀπάτην καὶ πλάνην κηρύττων ἐπ' ἀπωλείᾳ ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἔστιν ὁ τοιοῦτος πένης τὴν διάνοιαν ὡς ἐπίκλην Ἐβίων. ἐάν τις ταῦτα μὲν ὁμολογῇ, φθορὰν δὲ καὶ μολυσμὸν καλῇ τὴν νόμιμον μίξιν καὶ τὴν τῶν παίδων γένεσιν ἤ τινα τῶν βρωμάτων βδελυκτά, ὁ τοιοῦ- τος ἔνοικον ἔχει τὸν δράκοντα τὸν ἀποστάτην.ἐάν τις πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν καὶ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ὁμολογῇ καὶ τὴν κτίσιν ἐπαινῇ, δόκησιν δὲ λέγῃ τὴν ἐνσωμάτωσιν καὶ τὸ πάθος ἐπαισχύνηται, ὁ τοιοῦτος ἤρνηται τὴν πίστιν οὐχ ἧττον τῶν χριστοφόνων Ἰουδαίων. ἐάν τις ταῦτα μὲν ὁμολογῇ, καὶ ὅτι θεὸς λόγος ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ σώματι κατóκει, ὢν ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὁ λόγος, ὡς ψυχὴ ἐν σώματι, διὰ τὸ ἔνοικον εἶναι θεόν, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ ἀνθρωπείαν ψυχήν, λέγῃ δὲ τὰς παρανόμους μίξεις ἀγαθόν τι εἶναι καὶ τέλος εὐδαιμονίας ἡδονὴν τίθηται, οἷος ὁ ψευδώνυμος Nικολαΐτης, οὗτος οὔτε φιλόθεος οὔτε φιλόχριστος εἶναι δύναται, ἀλλὰ φθορεὺς τῆς οἰκείας σαρκὸς καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος κενὸς καὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀλλότριος. οἱ τοιοῦτοι πάντες στῆλαί εἰσιν καὶ τάφοι νεκρῶν, ἐφ' οἷς γέγραπται μόνον ὀνόματα νεκρῶν ἀνθρώπων.

φεύγετε οὖν τὰς κακοτεχνίας καὶ ἐνέδρας τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ νῦν ἐνεργοῦντος ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, μήποτε οἱ θλιβέντες ἐξασθενήσητε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ· ἀλλὰ πάντες ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ γίνεσθε ἐν ἀμερίστῳ καρδίᾳ καὶ ψυχῇ θελούσῃ, σύμψυχοι, τὸ ἓν φρονοῦντες, πάντοτε τὰ αὐτὰ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν δοξάζοντες, ἔν τε ἀνέσει καὶ κινδύνοις καὶ ἐν λύπαις καὶ ἐν χαρμοναῖς. εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ