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The Apostle denied it, saying: For we are not, like the many, peddling the word of God; and again: For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness; nor did we seek glory from men, neither from you nor from others.

QUESTION 60. What is strife, and what is rivalry? RESPONSE Strife is when someone, in order not to appear inferior to another, is eager to do something; but rivalry is to ostentatiously or vaingloriously provoke from what one does, and to stir up others to the same. For indeed the Apostle, at one time mentioning rivalry, connects vainglory to it, saying, Nothing out of rivalry or vainglory; and at another time, putting vainglory first, with this he also forbids rivalry by another name, saying: Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another.

QUESTION 67. What is impurity, and what is licentiousness? RESPONSE. The law showed impurity, using the name for things that happen involuntarily from natural necessity; but licentiousness, it seems to me, the most wise Solomon indicates, having called it pleasant and painless; so that licentiousness is a disposition of the soul not having or not bearing ascetic pain; just as incontinence is that which has not had power over troublesome pleasures.

QUESTION 68. What is the characteristic of anger, and what is the characteristic of just indignation, and how is it that often beginning from indignation, we find ourselves being angry? RESPONSE. The characteristic of anger is an impulse of the soul in the meditation of doing harm 31.1132 against the one who provoked it; but the characteristic of knowledgeable indignation is the purpose of correcting the one who has sinned out of a disposition displeased with what has happened. For the soul beginning from good to fall away into evil is nothing strange; for one would find many such things. Therefore one must remember the divinely-inspired Scripture saying: Next to the path they have laid snares for me; and again: And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully; and to guard everywhere against lack of measure and timeliness, and disorder. For on account of each of the aforementioned things, what seemed to be good often turned into evil.

QUESTION 69. One who does not eat less than the others, nor has a worn-out body, nor is known to be passionate, but laments an inability for work, how must one deal with him? RESPONSE. Every pretext for idleness is a pretext for sin; for one must show diligence until death, just as patience. That sloth, being joined with wickedness, condemns the slothful is clear from the Lord's words, when he said: You wicked and slothful servant.

QUESTION 70. How must one deal with someone who misuses his clothes or his shoes? For when he is accused, he suspects pettiness and murmuring on the part of the accuser. But if after the proper second and third exhortation he persists in the same things, what must be done with him? RESPONSE. The Apostle casts out misuse, saying: As using this world, and not misusing it. For the measure of use is the indispensable necessity of need; but that which is beyond need has the sickness of either greed, or love of pleasure, or vainglory. But he who persists in sin has the judgment of one who does not repent.

QUESTION 71. There are some who seek the more pleasant of foods before the more plentiful; others want the more plentiful rather than the pleasant for the sake of satiety; how then must one fully convince both? RESPONSE. Both are sick; the one with love of pleasure, the other with greed. Neither the lover of pleasure nor the greedy man in any matter is outside of condemnation. 31.1133 Therefore of both

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ἀπηρνήσατο ὁ Ἀπόστολος εἰπών· Οὐ γάρ ἐσμεν, ὡς οἱ πολλοὶ, καπηλεύοντες τὸν λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ· καὶ πάλιν· Οὔτε γάρ ποτε ἐν λόγῳ κο λακείας ἐγενήθημεν, καθὼς οἴδατε, οὔτε ἐν προφάσει πλεονεξίας, Θεὸς μάρτυς· οὔτε ζη τοῦντες ἐξ ἀνθρώπων δόξαν, οὔτε ἀφ' ὑμῶν, οὔτε ἀπὸ ἄλλων.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Ξʹ. Τί ἐστιν ἔρις, καὶ τί ἐστιν ἐριθεία ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἔρις μέν ἐστιν, ὅταν τις, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ ἐλάττων φανῆναί τινος, σπουδάζῃ ποιεῖν τι· ἐριθεία δὲ τὸ ἐξ ὧν ποιεῖ τις ἐπιδεικτικῶς ἢ κενοδόξως προκα λεῖσθαι, καὶ ἐρεθίζειν ἄλλους εἰς τὰ ὅμοια. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ποτὲ μὲν ἐριθείας μνημονεύων, τὴν κενοδοξίαν ἐπισυνάπτει, εἰπὼν, Μηδὲν κατ' ἐριθείαν ἢ κενοδοξίαν· ποτὲ δὲ κενοδοξίαν προτά ξας, μετὰ ταύτης καὶ τὴν ἐριθείαν ἑτέρῳ ὀνόματι ἀπαγορεύει, λέγων· Μὴ γινώμεθα κενόδο ξοι, ἀλλήλους προκαλούμενοι.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΞΖʹ. Τί ἐστιν ἀκαθαρσία, καὶ τί ἐστιν ἀσέλγεια. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Τὴν μὲν ἀκαθαρσίαν ὁ νόμος ἔδειξε, χρησά μενος τῷ ὀνόματι ἐπὶ τῶν ἀκουσίως ἐκ φυσικῆς ἀνάγκης συμβαινόντων· τὴν δὲ ἀσέλγειαν δοκεῖ μοι ἐμφαίνειν ὁ σοφώτατος Σολομὼν, ἡδὺν καὶ ἀνάλγητον ὀνομάσας· ὡς εἶναι τὴν ἀσέλγειαν διά θεσιν ψυχῆς μὴ ἔχουσαν ἢ μὴ φέρουσαν ἄλγος ἀθλητικόν· ὥσπερ καὶ ἀκρασία ἐστὶν ἡ μὴ σχοῦσα κράτος κατὰ τῶν ἐνοχλουσῶν ἡδονῶν

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΞΗʹ. Τί ἴδιον θυμοῦ, καὶ τί ἴδιον ἀγανακτήσεως εὐλό γου, καὶ πῶς πολλάκις ἀπὸ ἀγανακτήσεως ἀρ χόμενοι, εὑρισκόμεθα θυμούμενοι. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Θυμοῦ ἴδιον ὁρμὴ ψυχῆς ἐν μελέτῃ κακώσεως 31.1132 κατὰ τοῦ παροξύναντος· ἀγανακτήσεως δὲ ἐπιστή μονος ἴδιον σκοπὸς διορθώσεως τοῦ ἡμαρτηκότος ἀπὸ διαθέσεως ἀπαρεσκομένης τῷ γενομένῳ. Τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ καλοῦ ἀρχομένην ψυχὴν ἐκπίπτειν εἰς κακὸν, οὐδὲν παράδοξον· πολλὰ γὰρ ἄν τις εὕροι τοιαῦτα. ∆ιόπερ μνημονεύειν χρὴ τῆς θεοπνεύστου Γραφῆς λεγούσης· Ἐχόμενα τρίβου σκάνδαλα ἔθεντό μοι· καὶ πάλιν· Ἐὰν δὲ καὶ ἀθλῇ τις, οὐ στεφανοῦται, ἐὰν μὴ νομίμως ἀθλήσῃ· καὶ φυλάσσεσθαι πανταχοῦ τήν τε ἀμετρίαν καὶ τὴν ἀκαιρίαν, καὶ τὴν ἀταξίαν. Παρὰ γὰρ τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν εἰρημένων ἕκαστον, καὶ τὸ δόξαν εἶναι καλὸν, πολλάκις εἰς κακὸν μετέπεσεν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΞΘʹ. Τὸν μὴ ἔλαττον ἐσθίοντα τῶν λοιπῶν, μήτε σῶμα ἔχοντα κατεῤῥιμμένον, μήτε ἐμπαθῆ γνωριζόμενον, ἀδυναμίαν δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἔργον ὀδυρόμενον, πῶς δεῖ μετέρχεσθαι. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Πᾶσα πρόφασις ἀργίας πρόφασίς ἐστιν ἁμαρ τίας· τὴν γὰρ σπουδὴν μέχρι θανάτου, ὥσπερ καὶ τὴν ὑπομονὴν, ἐπιδείκνυσθαι χρή. Ὅτι δὲ ἡ ὀκνη ρία τῇ πονηρίᾳ συνεζευγμένη κατακρίνει τὸν ὀκνη ρὸν, ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου ῥημάτων φανερὸν, εἰπόντος· ∆οῦλε πονηρὲ καὶ ὀκνηρέ.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Οʹ. Τὸν παραχρώμενον τοῖς ἱματίοις ἢ τοῖς ὑποδή μασι πῶς δεῖ μετέρχεσθαι· ἐγκαλούμενος γὰρ, μικρολογίαν τοῦ ἐγκαλοῦντος καὶ γογγυσμὸν ὑποπτεύει. Εἰ δὲ μετὰ τὴν προσήκουσαν δευτέραν καὶ τρίτην παράκλησιν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐπιμένοι, τί χρὴ αὐτῷ ποιεῖν ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ἐκβάλλει τὴν παράχρησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος εἰπών· Ὡς χρώμενοι τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ, καὶ μὴ παρα χρώμενοι. Τῆς γὰρ χρήσεως τὸ μέτρον ἡ ἀπαραί τητος ἀνάγκη τῆς χρείας· ἡ δὲ ὑπὲρ τὴν χρείαν ἢ πλεονεξίας, ἢ φιληδονίας, ἢ κενοδοξίας ἔχει τὴν νόσον. Ὁ δὲ ἐπιμένων τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἔχει τὸ κρῖμα τοῦ μὴ μετανοοῦντος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΟΑʹ. Εἰσί τινες οἱ πρὸ πλείονος τὸ ἡδύτερον τῶν ἐδεσμάτων ἐπιζητοῦντες· ἄλλοι δὲ τὸ πλεῖον μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ ἡδὺ διὰ τὸν κόρον θέλουσιν· πῶς οὖν ἀμφοτέρους πληροφορεῖν χρή. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ἀμφότεροι νοσοῦσιν· ὁ μὲν τὴν φιληδονίαν, ὁ δὲ τὴν πλεονεξίαν. Οὔτε δὲ ὁ φιλήδονος οὔτε ὁ πλεον έκτης ἐν οἱῳδήποτε πράγματι ἐκτὸς κατακοί 31.1133 σεώς ἐστιν. Ἀμφοτέρων οὖν