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it is necessary to compassionately take care for the healing of the passion. But if they do not heal the sickness, the judgment of the unrepentant is clear.

QUESTION 72. If someone, around the time of communion in the brotherhood, behaves improperly, eating or drinking too greedily, should he be rebuked? RESPONSE. Such a one does not keep the command of the Apostle who said: Whether you eat, or whether you drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God; and again: Let all things be done decently and in order and he needs correction, unless some necessity of labor or haste presses; but even then it is necessary to diligently keep from giving offense.

QUESTION 73. How should one be corrected who rebukes a sinner not with a desire for the brother's correction, but in the passion of his own vengeance, persisting in the same passion after much exhortation? RESPONSE. Let such a one be known as a lover of self and a lover of power; and let the way of correction be made clear to him according to the knowledge of piety. But if he persists in his wickedness, the judgment against the unrepentant is clear.

QUESTION 74. Regarding those who leave the brotherhood, and wish to live a solitary life, or with a few to follow the same goal of piety, we ask to be taught from Scripture whether they should be separated. RESPONSE. Since the Lord often said: The Son can do nothing of himself; and that I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me; and the Apostle testifying, That the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you may not do the things that you wish; everything chosen according to one's own will is foreign to those who worship God. But we have answered more fully concerning such things in the things spoken at length.

QUESTION 75. Whether it is proper to say that Satan is the cause of every sin, whether in thought, or in word, or in deed. RESPONSE. On the whole, I think that Satan himself, by himself, 31.1136 cannot be the cause of any sin; but by using the existing motions, sometimes natural, and sometimes also forbidden passions, through them he attempts to lead away to his own passions those who are not vigilant. He has used the natural ones, as he attempted to do with the Lord, when he perceived that he was hungry, saying: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread; but the forbidden passions, as in the case of Judas, whom, when he learned he was sick with avarice, using this passion, he hurled the avaricious one down into the fall of betrayal through the thirty pieces of silver. But that evil things also spring up from ourselves, the Lord clearly shows; For out of the heart, he says, proceed evil thoughts. And this happens to those who out of negligence leave uncultivated the natural seeds of good things, as it is said in Proverbs: Like a field is a foolish man, and like a vineyard a man lacking sense. If you leave it, it will become barren, and it will be completely overgrown with weeds, and it becomes abandoned. And for the soul that has become barren and abandoned from such negligence, it follows of necessity that it brings forth thorns and thistles, and to suffer that which is said: I waited for it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns. Concerning which soul it was said before: And I planted a Sorek vine, which is interpreted as chosen. And one might find something similar to this in Jeremiah, speaking from the person of God: I planted you a fruitful vine, wholly true; how have you turned into bitterness, a strange vine?

QUESTION 76. Whether it is right to lie for the sake of some supposed useful economy. RESPONSE. The Lord's declaration does not permit this, since he once said that a lie is of the devil; and no distinction of a lie

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εὐσπλάγχνως ἐπιμε ληθῆναι χρὴ πρὸς θεραπείαν τοῦ πάθους. Εἰ δὲ μὴ θεραπεύονται τὴν νόσον, φανερὸν τὸ κρῖμα τῶν μὴ μετανοούντων.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΟΒʹ. Ἐάν τις περὶ τὴν μετάληψιν ἐν ἀδελφότητι ἀσέ μνως ἀναστρέφηται λαβρότερον ἐσθίων ἢ πίνων, εἰ δεῖ αὐτὸν ἐλέγχεσθαι. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ὁ τοιοῦτος οὐ φυλάσσει τὸ παράγγελμα τοῦ Ἀπο στόλου εἰπόντος· Εἴτε ἐσθίετε, εἴτε πίνετε, εἴτε τι ποιεῖτε, πάντα εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ ποιεῖτε· καὶ πάλιν· Πάντα εὐσχημόνως καὶ κατὰ τάξιν γινέσθω καὶ χρῄζει διορθώσεως, πλὴν εἰ μή τις ἀνάγκη τοῦ κόπου ἢ τοῦ τάχους κατεπείγοι· ἀλλὰ καὶ τότε χρὴ τὸ ἀπρόσκοπον ἐσπουδασμένως φυλάττειν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΟΓʹ Τὸν μὴ ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ τῆς τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ διορθώσεως ἐλέγχοντα τὸν ἁμαρτάνοντα, ἀλλ' ἐν πάθει τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἐκδικήσεως, πῶς χρὴ διορθοῦσθαι μετὰ πλείονα παράκλησιν τῷ αὐτῷ ἐπιμένοντα πά θει ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ὡς φίλαυτος καὶ φίλαρχος γνωριζέσθω ὁ τοιοῦ τος· καὶ ὁ τῆς διορθώσεως τρόπος αὐτῷ κατ' ἐπι στήμην τῆς θεοσεβείας φανερούσθω. Εἰ δὲ ἐπιμένοι τῇ κακίᾳ, δῆλον τὸ κρῖμα κατὰ τῶν μὴ μετανοούντων.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Ο∆ʹ. Τοὺς ἐξερχομένους ἐκ τῆς ἀδελφότητος, καὶ βουλομένους μονήρη βίον ζῇν, ἢ μετὰ ὀλίγων τῷ αὐτῷ ἕπεσθαι σκοπῷ τῆς εὐσεβείας, εἰ χρὴ ἀφορίζειν, διδαχθῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς δεόμεθα. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Πολλάκις τοῦ Κυρίου εἰπόντος· Ὁ Υἱὸς ἀφ' ἑαυ τοῦ ποιεῖ οὐδέν· καὶ ὅτι Καταβέβηκα ἐκ τοῦ οὐ ρανοῦ, οὐχ ἵνα ποιῶ τὸ θέλημα τὸ ἐμὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με Πατρός· καὶ τοῦ Ἀπο στόλου μαρτυροῦντος, Ὅτι ἡ σὰρξ ἐπιθυμεῖ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα κατὰ τῆς σαρκός· ταῦτα δὲ ἀντίκεινται ἀλλήλοις, ἵνα μὴ ἃ ἂν θέλω μεν, ταῦτα ποιῶμεν· πᾶν τὸ κατὰ τὸ ἴδιον θέλημα αἱρετὸν ἀλλότριον θεοσεβούντων. Πληρέστερον δὲ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων ἐν τοῖς κατὰ πλάτος εἰρημένοις ἀπεκρινάμεθα.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΟΕʹ. Εἰ παντὸς ἁμαρτήματος, εἴτε κατὰ νοῦν, εἴτε κατὰ λόγον, εἴτε κατὰ πρᾶξιν, τὸν Σατανᾶν αἴτιον λέγειν ἀκόλουθον. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Καθόλου οἶμαι, ὅτι αὐτὸς καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὁ Σατανᾶς 31.1136 αἴτιος γενέσθαι τινὶ ἁμαρτίας οὐ δύναται· τοῖς δὲ ἐνυπάρχουσι ποτὲ μὲν φυσικοῖς κινήμασι, ποτὲ δὲ καὶ ἀπηγορευμένοις πάθεσι συγχρώμενος, δι' αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα τῶν παθῶν ἀπάγειν ἐπιχειρεῖ τοὺς μὴ νήφοντας. Συγκέχρηται δὲ τοῖς μὲν φυσικοῖς, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ Κυρίου ποιῆσαι ἐπειράθη, ἡνίκα ᾔσθετο αὐ τοῦ πεινάσαντος, εἰπών· Εἰ Υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἰπὲ ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται· πάθεσι δὲ ἀπ ηγορευμένοις, ὡς ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα, ὃν ἐπειδὴ φιλαργυ ρίαν νοσοῦντα κατέμαθε, τούτῳ συγχρησάμενος τῷ πάθει, καὶ εἰς τὸ τῆς προδοσίας πτῶμα τὸν φιλάργυ ρον διὰ τῶν τριάκοντα ἀργυρίων κατηκόντισεν. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ τὰ κακὰ ἐξ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἀναφύεται, δείκνυσι σαφῶς ὁ Κύριος· Ἐκ γὰρ τῆς καρδίας, φησὶν, ἐξέρ χονται οἱ διαλογισμοὶ οἱ πονηροί. Συμβαίνει δὲ τοῦτο τοῖς ἐξ ἀμελείας ἀγεώργητα καταλιποῦσι τὰ φυσικὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν σπέρματα, ὡς κατὰ τὸ ἐν Παροιμίαις εἰρημένον· Ὥσπερ γεώργιον ἀνὴρ ἄφρων, καὶ ὥσπερ ἀμπελὼν ἄνθρωπος ἐνδεὴς φρε νῶν. Ἐὰν ἀφῇς αὐτὸν, χερσωθήσεται, καὶ χορτο μανήσει ὅλος, καὶ γίνεται ἐκλελειμμένος. Τῇ δὲ ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης ἀμελείας κεχερσωμένῃ καὶ ἐκλελειμ μένῃ ψυχῇ ἀκόλουθον ἐξ ἀνάγκης τὸ ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους ἀνατέλλειν, καὶ πάσχειν ἐκεῖνο τὸ εἰρημέ νον· Ἔμεινα ἵνα ποιήσῃ σταφυλὴν, ἐποίησε δὲ ἀκάνθας. Περὶ ἧς ψυχῆς προείρηται· Καὶ ἐφύτευσα ἄμπελον Σωρὴχ, ὃ ἑρμηνεύεται ἐκλεκτή. Τὸ παραπλήσιον δὲ τούτῳ καὶ παρὰ τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ εὕροι τις ἂν ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγοντι· Ἐγὼ ἐφύτευσα ἄμπελον καρποφόρον, πᾶσαν ἀληθινήν· πῶς ἐστράφης εἰς πικρίαν, ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀλλοτρία; ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Οʹ. Εἰ χρὴ οἰκονομίᾳ δῆθεν χρησίμου τινὸς ψεύ δεσθαι. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Ἡ ἀπόφασις τοῦ Κυρίου τοῦτο οὐ συγχωρεῖ, ἅπαξ εἰπόντος, ὅτι τὸ ψεῦδος ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστί· δια φορὰν δὲ ψεύδους οὐδεμίαν