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Is the Apostle only concerned that the one who presides over the priesthood should be such a person? And what 17.24 great gain is it, if the good is confined to one? But he knows that the subordinate is conformed to the one who is superior, and the good deeds of the leader become those of the followers; for what the teacher is, this he also makes the student; for it is not possible for one apprenticed to the smith's trade to practice weaving, or for one taught weaving to become an orator or a geometer, but what the student sees in his guide, this he also transfers to himself. For this reason he says: "every student who is fully trained will be like his teacher." 17.25 What then, brothers? Is it possible to become humble-minded and composed in character and moderate and superior to avarice and wise in divine things and instructed in virtue and fairness in one's ways, without seeing these things in the 17.26 teacher? But I do not know how it is possible for one who has been taught by a worldly person to become spiritual; 17.27 for how could those who are made like him not be according to him? What gain is the magnificence of the water-jar to those who are thirsty, if there is no water in it? And though the successive placement of columns in various shapes holds up the roof at a height, what would the thirsty man rather choose for his own need, to see stones well-arranged, or to find a spring, even if it flows from a wooden pipe, as long as it pours forth a stream both clear and drinkable? 17.28 So, brothers, for those looking to piety, the outer tent must be neglected; and if someone boasts of friends and puts on airs with lists of honors and counts up many annual revenues and looking to his own lineage is puffed up with pride and is surrounded on all sides by vanity, such a one should be left as a dry water-jar, if he does not have the aforementioned things in his life, but we must search as far as possible, using the lamp of the spirit for the investigation, if somewhere there is "a garden locked up" and "a spring sealed up," as the scripture says, so that through ordination the delight in the garden may be opened to us and the water of the spring unstopped, the grace in that one may become a common possession of the 17.29 whole church. And may the Lord grant that such a one be quickly found among you who will be a chosen vessel, a pillar and foundation of the truth; and we trust in the Lord that these things will be, if you are willing through like-minded harmony to look together to the common good, preferring to your own wills the will of our Lord Jesus Christ which is good and acceptable and perfect, so that what is accomplished among you may be such that we too shall boast in it and you shall delight in it and the God of all will be glorified, to whom is due glory for ever and ever.

18.t To Otreius, bishop of Melitene

18.1 How beautiful are the likenesses of beautiful things, when the clear character of the form of the original beauty is preserved also 18.2 in themselves. For I saw a most clear image of your truly beautiful soul in the sweetness of your letters, with which you, as the gospel somewhere says, sweetened us "out of the abundance of your heart"; and because of this I thought I was looking at you yourself and reaping the gladness in my eyes also through the friendliness in your letters, and often rereading the letters with pleasure and constantly going over them I was inflamed with a greater desire for enjoyment, and there was no satiety of what was being drunk, just as satiety does not destroy the pleasure of any other of the things that are naturally beautiful and precious; 18.3 for neither has the constant participation in looking at the sun blunted the desire, nor has the continuous enjoyment of health stopped the longing, nor are we persuaded that it is possible for the enjoyment of your goodness, which we have known often face to face and now through your letter, to proceed to the point of satiety; but as something

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μόνου τῷ ἀποστόλῳ μέλει ὅπως ὁ τῆς ἱερωσύνης προεστηκὼς τοιοῦτος εἴη; καὶ τί 17.24 τοσοῦτον κέρδος, εἰ ἐν ἑνὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν κατακλείοιτο; ἀλλ' οἶδεν ὅτι τῷ προέχοντι συμμορφοῦται τὸ ὑποχείριον, καὶ τὰ κατορθώματα τοῦ καθηγουμένου τῶν ἑπομένων γίνεται· ὃ γάρ ἐστιν ὁ διδάσκαλος, τοῦτο καὶ τὸν μαθητὴν ἀπεργάζεται· οὐ γὰρ ἔστι τὸν τῇ χαλκευτικῇ τέχνῃ μαθητευόμενον ὑφαντικὴν ἐξασκῆσαι, ἢ ἱστουργεῖν διδασκόμενον ῥήτορα ἢ γεωμέτρην γενέσθαι, ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἐν τῷ καθηγουμένῳ βλέπει ὁ μαθητής, τοῦτο καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὸν μετατίθησι. διὰ τοῦτό φησι· κατηρτισμένος ἔσται πᾶς μαθητὴς ὡς ὁ διδάσκαλος αὐτοῦ. 17.25 τί οὖν, ἀδελφοί; ἆρα δυνατὸν ταπεινόφρονα γενέσθαι καὶ κατεσταλμένον τῷ ἤθει καὶ μέτριον καὶ φιλοκερδείας κρείττονα καὶ τὰ θεῖα σοφὸν καὶ πεπαιδευμένον τὴν ἐν τοῖς τρόποις ἀρετήν τε καὶ ἐπιείκειαν, ταῦτα ἐν τῷ διδα17.26 σκάλῳ μὴ βλέποντα; ἀλλ' οὐκ οἶδα πῶς οἷόν τε τὸν κοσμικῷ μαθητευθέντα πνευματικὸν γενέσθαι· πῶς γὰρ ἂν 17.27 μὴ κατ' ἐκεῖνον εἶεν οἱ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁμοιούμενοι; τί κέρδος ἐστὶ τοῖς διψῶσι τῆς τοῦ ὑδρείου μεγαλουργίας, ὕδατος ἐν αὐτῷ μὴ ὄντος; κἂν ἐν ποικίλοις σχήμασιν ἡ τῶν κιόνων ἐπάλληλος θέσις ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕψους ἀνέχῃ τὸν πέτασον, τί μᾶλλον ἂν ὁ διψῶν ἕλοιτο πρὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ χρείαν, λίθους εὖ διακειμένους βλέπειν, ἢ κρουνὸν εὑρεῖν, κἂν ἀπὸ ξυλίνου σωλῆνος ῥέῃ, μόνον διειδές τε καὶ πότιμον τὸ νᾶμα 17.28 προχέοντα; οὕτως, ἀδελφοί, τοῖς πρὸς τὴν εὐσέβειαν βλέπουσιν ἀμελητέον ἂν εἴη τῆς ἔξω σκηνῆς· καὶ εἴ τις κομᾷ φίλοις καὶ καταλόγοις ἀξιωμάτων ἁβρύνεται καὶ πολλὰς ἐτησίους ἀπαριθμεῖται προσόδους καὶ πρὸς τὸ γένος ἑαυτοῦ βλέπων περιογκοῦται καὶ πανταχόθεν τῷ τύφῳ περιαυτίζεται, τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐᾶν ὡς ξηρὸν ὑδρεῖον, εἴπερ μὴ ἔχοι ἐν τῷ βίῳ τὰ προηγούμενα, ἀναζητεῖν δὲ καθὼς ἂν ᾖ δυνατόν, τῷ λύχνῳ τοῦ πνεύματος πρὸς τὴν ἔρευναν κεχρημένους, εἴ πού τίς ἐστι Κῆπος κεκλεισμένος καὶ πηγὴ ἐσφραγισμένη, καθώς φησιν ἡ γραφή, ἵνα διὰ τῆς χειροτονίας ἀνοιχθείσης ἡμῖν τῆς ἐν τῷ κήπῳ τρυφῆς καὶ ἀναστομωθέντος τοῦ τῆς πηγῆς ὕδατος κοινὸν γένηται κτῆμα τῆς 17.29 καθόλου ἐκκλησίας ἡ ἐν ἐκείνῳ χάρις. καὶ παράσχοι ὁ κύριος εὑρεθῆναι διὰ τάχους ἐν ὑμῖν τοιοῦτον ὃς ἔσται σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς, στῦλός τε καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας· πιστεύομεν δὲ τῷ κυρίῳ ἔσεσθαι ταῦτα, εἴπερ ὑμεῖς βουληθείητε διὰ τῆς ὁμονοητικῆς συμπνοίας πρὸς τὸ κοινὸν ἀγαθὸν συμφώνως ἰδεῖν, προτιμήσαντες τῶν ἰδίων θελημάτων τὸ θέλημα τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ εὐάρεστον καὶ τέλειον, ἵνα κατορθούμενον ἐν ὑμῖν τοιοῦτον ᾖ ᾧ καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐγκαυχησόμεθα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐντρυφήσετε καὶ ὁ θεὸς τῶν ὅλων ἐνδοξασθήσεται, ᾧ πρέπει ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας.

18.τ Ὀτρηίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Μελιτηνῆσ

18.1 Ὡς καλὰ τῶν καλῶν ἐστι τὰ ὁμοιώματα, ὅταν ἐναργῆ τοῦ πρωτοτύπου

κάλλους τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς μορφῆς καὶ 18.2 ἐφ' ἑαυτῶν διασῴζηται. τῆς γὰρ ψυχῆς σου τῆς ὄντως καλῆς εἶδον ἐναργεστάτην εἰκόνα ἐν τῇ τῶν γραμμάτων γλυκύτητι, οἷς ἡμᾶς, καθώς φησί που τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, Ἐκ τοῦ περισσεύματος τῆς καρδίας σου ἐμελίτωσας· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτόν σε προσορᾶν καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς εὐφροσύνην καρποῦσθαι καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐν τοῖς γράμμασι φιλοφροσύνης ἐνόμιζον, καὶ πολλάκις ὑφ' ἡδονῆς ἐπαναλαμβάνων τὰ γράμματα καὶ συνεχῶς ἐπιὼν πρὸς μείζονα τῆς ἀπολαύσεως ἐπιθυμίαν ἐξεκαιόμην, καὶ κόρος τῶν πινομένων οὐκ ἦν, ὡς οὐδὲ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν κατὰ φύσιν καλῶν καὶ τιμίων τὴν 18.3 ἡδονὴν ὁ κόρος διαλυμαίνεται· οὔτε γὰρ τοῦ προσορᾶν τὸν ἥλιον ἡ συνεχὴς μετουσία τὴν ὄρεξιν ἤμβλυνεν, οὔτε τῆς ὑγείας ἡ διηνεκὴς ἀπόλαυσις τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἔστησεν, οὔτε τῆς σῆς ἀγαθότητος, ἣν κατὰ πρόσωπον πολλάκις καὶ νῦν διὰ τοῦ γράμματος ἔγνωμεν, δυνατὸν εἶναι πεπείσμεθα μέχρι κόρου προελθεῖν τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν· ἀλλ' οἷόν τι