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of us, to whom be glory forever and ever; amen. For it is not right for you, who are the head, O bishop, to pay attention to the tail, that is, to a seditious layman, to the destruction of another, but to God alone. For you must rule those under your authority, and not be ruled by them; for neither does a son rule a father according to the law of birth, nor a slave his own master according to the law of authority, nor a student a teacher, nor a soldier a king, nor indeed a layman a bishop. For, lest those who approach the wicked by the teaching of the word should seem to be defiled with them or to share in their sins, Ezekiel, cutting off the evil-minded notion, says: ‘Why do you use this proverb to yourselves upon the land of Israel: the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge? As I live, Adonai, says the Lord, this proverb shall no longer be spoken by you in Israel. For all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sins, it shall die; but the man who will be righteous, doing judgment and justice’, and so on, enumerating the other virtues, he concludes by saying: ‘Such a one is righteous, he shall surely live, says Adonai the Lord. And if he begets a pestilent son, who sheds blood, and has not walked in the way of his righteous father’, and having added what follows, he adds in the last parts: ‘He shall not live; for all these iniquities that he has committed, he shall die by death, his blood shall be upon him. And you will say: Why has the son not borne the iniquity of the father, or his righteousness, having himself done righteousness and mercy?’ And you shall say to them: ‘The soul that sins, it shall die; a son shall not bear the iniquity of a father, and a father shall not bear the iniquity of a son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the lawlessness of the lawless shall be upon him.’ And after a little he says: ‘When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, according to all his iniquities, all his acts of righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; in his iniquity which he has committed, and in his sin which he has sinned, in it he shall die.’ And after a little he adds: ‘When a lawless man turns away from his lawlessness which he has committed, and does judgment and justice, this man has preserved his soul and has turned away from all his impieties which he has committed, he shall surely live and not die.’ And so on: ‘Each of you I will judge according to your ways, O house of Israel, says Adonai

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ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων· ἀμήν. Oὐδὲ γὰρ δίκαιον κεφαλὴν ὄντα σε, ὦ ἐπίσκοπε, οὐρᾷ προσέχειν, τοῦτ' ἔστιν λαϊκῷ στασιώδει ἀνθρώπῳ, εἰς ἑτέρου ἀπώλειαν, ἀλλὰ Θεῷ μόνῳ. Ἄρχειν γάρ σε χρὴ τῶν ὑπηκόων, οὐ μὴν καὶ ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἄρχεσθαι· οὔτε γὰρ υἱὸς ἄρχει πατρὸς κατὰ τὸν τῆς γενέσεως λόγον, οὔτε δοῦλος τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ κυρίου κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἐξουσίας λόγον, οὔτε μαθητὴς διδασκάλου, οὔτε στρατιώτης βασιλέως, οὔτε μὴν λαϊκὸς ἐπισκόπου. Περὶ γὰρ τοῦ μὴ δοκεῖν τοὺς πλησιάζοντας ἀδίκοις τῇ τοῦ λόγου διδαχῇ συμμολύνεσθαι ἢ κοινωνεῖν ταῖς αὐτῶν ἁμαρτίαις ὁ Ἰεζεκιὴλ ἐκκόπτων τὴν τῶν κακοήθων ἐπίνοιαν λέγει· «Τί ὑμεῖς λέγετε αὑτοῖς τὴν παραβολὴν ταύτην ἐπὶ γῆς Ἰσραήλ· οἱ πατέρες ἔφαγον ὄμφακα, καὶ οἱ ὀδόντες τῶν τέκνων ἐγομφίασαν; Ζῶ ἐγὼ Ἀδωναΐ, λέγει Κύριος, εἰ ἔσται ἔτι ἐν ὑμῖν λεγομένη ἡ παραβολὴ αὕτη ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ. Ὅτι πᾶσαι αἱ ψυχαὶ ἐμαί εἰσιν, ὃν τρόπον ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ πατρός, οὕτως καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἐμή ἐστιν. Ἡ ψυχὴ ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα αὐτὴ ἀποθανεῖται· ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος, ὃς ἔσται δίκαιος, ποιῶν κρίμα καὶ δικαιοσύνην», καὶ ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγων τὰς λοιπὰς ἀρετὰς ἐπισφραγίζεται λέγων· «Ὁ τοιοῦτος δίκαιος ὑπάρχει, ζωῇ ζήσεται, λέγει Ἀδωνα Κύριος. Καὶ ἐὰν γεννήσῃ υἱὸν λοιμόν, ἐκχέοντα αἷμα, καὶ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ δικαίου οὐκ ἐπορεύθη», καὶ ἐπαγαγὼν τὰ ἑξῆς, ἐπάγει τοῖς τελευταίοις· «Ζωῇ οὐ ζήσεται· πάσας τὰς ἀνομίας ταύτας ἃς ἐποίησεν, θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖται, τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔσται. Καὶ ἐρεῖτε· Τί ὅτι οὐκ ἔλαβεν ὁ υἱὸς τὴν ἀδικίαν τοῦ πατρὸς, ἢ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ, δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἔλεος πεποιηκώς;» Καὶ ἐρεῖς αὐτοῖς· «Ἡ ψυχὴ ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα αὐτὴ ἀποθα νεῖται· υἱὸς οὐ λήψεται ἀδικίαν πατρός, καὶ πατὴρ οὐ λήψεται ἀδικίαν υἱοῦ· δικαιοσύνη δικαίου ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔσται, καὶ ἀνομία ἀνόμου ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἔσται.» Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα φησίν· «Ἐν τῷ ἀποστρέψαι δίκαιον ἐκ τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ καὶ ποιῆσαι ἀδικίαν, κατὰ πάσας τὰς ἀνομίας αὐτοῦ πᾶσαι αἱ δικαιοσύναι αὐτοῦ, ἃς ἐποίησεν, οὐ μὴ μνησθῶσιν· ἐν τῇ ἀδικίᾳ αὐτοῦ ᾗ ἠδίκησεν, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ αὐτοῦ ᾗ ἥμαρτεν, ἐν αὐτῇ ἀποθανεῖται.» Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα ἐπάγει· «Ἐν τῷ ἀποστρέψαι ἄνομον ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνομίας αὐτοῦ ἧς ἐποίησεν, καὶ ποιήσει κρίμα καὶ δικαιοσύνην, οὗτος τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ ἐφύλαξεν καὶ ἀπέστρεψεν ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἀσεβειῶν αὐτοῦ ὧν ἐποίησεν, ζωῇ ζήσεται καὶ οὐκ ἀποθανεῖται.» Καὶ ἑξῆς· «Ἕκαστον κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς ὑμῶν κρινῶ ὑμᾶς, οἶκος Ἰσραήλ, λέγει Ἀδωνα