XXI.  And there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake.  Others, too, who have not met with teachers, have been laudable teachers to themselves.  No father nor mother, no Priest or Bishop, nor any of those commissioned to teach, taught you your duty; but by moving reason in yourself and by kindling the spark of good by your free will, you made yourself a eunuch, and acquired such a habit of virtue that impulse to vice became almost an impossibility to you.  Therefore I praise this kind of Eunuch-making also, and perhaps even above the others.  He that is able to receive it let him receive it.  Choose which part you will; either follow the Teacher or be your own teacher.  One thing alone is shameful—that the passions be not extirpated.  It matters not how they are extirpated.  The teacher is God’s creature; and you also have the same origin; and whether the teacher grasp this grace, or the good be your own—it is equally good.

ΚΑʹ. Καὶ εἰσὶν, οἵτινες ἑαυτοὺς εὐνούχισαν διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν. Ἄλλοι διδασκάλων μὲν οὐκ ἐπέτυχον, ἑαυτῶν δὲ γεγόνασιν ἐπαινετοὶ διδάσκαλοι. Οὐκ ἐδίδαξέ σε μήτηρ τὸ δέον, οὐκ ἐδίδαξέ σε πατὴρ, οὐ πρεσβύτερος, οὐκ ἐπίσκοπος, οὐκ ἄλλος τις τῶν τὸ διδάσκειν πεπιστευμένων. Ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐν σοὶ λόγον κινήσας, ἀλλὰ τὸν σπινθῆρα τοῦ καλοῦ διὰ τῆς προαιρέσεως ἀνάψας, σαυτὸν εὐνούχισας, τὴν ῥίζαν ἐξέτεμες, τὰ ὄργανα τῆς κακίας ἐξώρισας, τοσαύτην ἕξιν ἐκτήσω τῆς ἀρετῆς, ὥστε καὶ σχεδὸν ἀδύνατόν σοι γενέσθαι τὴν περὶ τὰ χείρω φοράν. Διὰ τοῦτο ἐπαινῶ καὶ τοῦτον τὸν εὐνουχισμὸν, καὶ τυχὸν μᾶλλον τῶν ἄλλων. Ὁ δυνάμενος χωρεῖν, χωρείτω. Ἣν βούλει δέξαι μερίδα, ἢ ἐπακολούθησον τῷ διδασκάλῳ, ἢ γενοῦ σαυτοῦ διδάσκαλος. Ἓν αἰσχρὸν μόνον, μὴ τμηθῆναι τὰ πάθη. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ τμηθῆναι τὰ πάθη, μηδὲν διαφέρου. Καὶ ὁ διδάσκων, πλάσμα Θεοῦ, καὶ σὺ γέγονας ἐκεῖθεν: κἄν τε ὁ διδάσκαλος ἁρπάσῃ τὴν χάριν, κἄν τε γένηται σὸν τὸ καλὸν, καλὸν ὁμοίως ἐστί.