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he innovated, having created the experience of evil through his own choice in turning away from virtue. For evil, lying outside of choice and considered in its own substance, is nothing in the nature of things. "For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected," and "all that God had made was very good." But since, in the manner described, the consequence of sinning crept into the life of men, and from a small beginning, wickedness was poured out infinitely in man, and that godlike beauty of the soul, which came into being in imitation of the prototype, was blackened like iron by the rust of evil, it no longer then preserved the grace of its own and natural image, but was transformed to the shame of sin. Whence "this great and honorable thing," man, as he was named by scripture, having fallen from his own worth, just as happens to those who by a slip are cast down into mire and, having effaced their own form with the mud, become unrecognizable even to their acquaintances, so also he, having fallen into the mire of sin, lost his being the image of the incorruptible God, and through sin put on the corruptible and clay-like image, which the Word advises to put off, having washed it away as with the pure water of one's way of life, so that, the earthly covering having been removed, the beauty of the soul might again be revealed. And the putting off of what is alien is the return to what is naturally its own, which cannot otherwise be attained, unless one becomes again such as he was created from the beginning; for the likeness to the divine is not our work, nor is it an achievement of human power, but this is of the great gift of God, who bestowed upon nature, immediately at its first creation, the likeness to himself.

12.3 And human effort would be so much as only to cleanse away the filth that comes upon it from evil and to bring to light the beauty hidden in the soul. And I think the Lord teaches such a doctrine also in the Gospel, saying to those able to hear the wisdom spoken in a mystery, that "The kingdom of God is within you." For, I think, the word shows by this that the good of God is not separated from our nature, nor is it settled somewhere far away from those who choose to seek him, but it is always in each one, unknown and hidden when it is "choked by the cares and pleasures of life," but found again when we turn our mind back to it. And if it is necessary to confirm the word through other examples, I think the Lord also suggests this to us in the search for the lost drachma, that there is no benefit from the other virtues, which the Word called drachmas, even if they all happen to be present, when that one is absent from the widowed soul. For this reason he first commands to light a lamp, signifying perhaps the word that illuminates hidden things; then to seek the lost drachma in one's own house, that is, in oneself. And through the drachma being sought he certainly alludes to the image of the king, which is not completely lost, but hidden under the dung. And one must understand the dung, I think, as the filth of the flesh, which when swept away and cleansed through the diligence of one's life, the thing sought becomes manifest, at which it is fitting both for the soul who found it to rejoice and to take its neighbors into the fellowship of joy. For in reality all the faculties that dwell with the soul, which he now called neighbors, when this great image of the king is revealed along with them and shines forth, which from the beginning he stamped on our drachma, "he who formed according to

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ἐκαινοτόμησε, τὴν τοῦ κακοῦ πεῖραν ἐν τῇ ἀποστροφῇ τῆς ἀρετῆς τῇ ἰδίᾳ προαιρέσει δημιουργήσας. Κακὸν γὰρ ἔξω προαιρέσεως κείμενον καὶ κατ' ἰδίαν ὑπόστασιν θεωρούμενον ἐν τῇ φύσει τῶν ὄντων ἐστὶν οὐδέν. «Πᾶν γὰρ κτίσμα θεοῦ καλὸν καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπόβλητον», καὶ «πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς καλὰ λίαν». Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ κατὰ τὸν ῥηθέντα τρόπον εἰσεφθάρη τῇ ζωῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν ἀκολουθία, καὶ ἐκ μικρᾶς ἀφορμῆς εἰς ἄπειρον τῆς κακίας ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ χυθείσης καὶ τὸ θεοειδὲς ἐκεῖνο τῆς ψυχῆς κάλλος τὸ κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ πρωτοτύπου γενόμενον οἷόν τις σίδηρος κατε μελάνθη τῷ τῆς κακίας ἰῷ, οὐκέτι τηνικαῦτα τῆς οἰκείας αὐτῷ καὶ κατὰ φύσιν εἰκόνος τὴν χάριν διέσωζεν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ αἶσχος τῆς ἁμαρτίας μετεμορφώθη. Ὅθεν «τὸ μέγα καὶ τίμιον τοῦτο» ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ὑπὸ τῆς γραφῆς ὠνο μάσθη, ἐκπεσὼν τῆς οἰκείας ἀξίας, οἷον πάσχουσιν οἱ ἐξ ὀλισθήματος ἐγκατενεχθέντες βορβόρῳ καὶ τῷ πηλῷ τὴν μορφὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐξαλείψαντες ἀνεπίγνωστοι καὶ τοῖς συνή θεσι γίνονται, οὕτω κἀκεῖνος ἐμπεσὼν τῷ βορβόρῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀπώλεσε μὲν τὸ εἰκὼν εἶναι τοῦ ἀφθάρτου θεοῦ, τὴν δὲ φθαρτὴν καὶ πηλίνην εἰκόνα διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας μετημφιάσατο, ἣν ἀποθέσθαι συμβουλεύει ὁ λόγος, οἷόν τινι ὕδατι τῷ καθαρῷ τῆς πολιτείας ἀποκλυσάμενον, ὡς ἂν περιαιρεθέντος τοῦ γηΐνου καλύμματος πάλιν τῆς ψυχῆς φανερωθῇ τὸ κάλλος. Ἀπόθεσις δὲ τοῦ ἀλλοτρίου ἐστὶν ἡ εἰς τὸ οἰκεῖον ἑαυτῷ κατὰ φύσιν ἐπάνοδος, οὗ τυχεῖν ἄλλως οὐκ ἔστι, μὴ οἷος ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐκτίσθη, τοιοῦτον πάλιν γενόμενον· οὐ γὰρ ἡμέτερον ἔργον οὐδὲ δυνάμεως ἀνθρωπίνης ἐστὶ κατόρθωμα ἡ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον ὁμοίωσις, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ μεγαλοδωρεᾶς ἐστιν, εὐθὺς ἅμα τῇ πρώτῃ γενέσει χαρισαμένου τῇ φύσει τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁμοιότητα.

12.3 Τῆς δὲ ἀνθρωπίνης σπουδῆς τοσοῦτον ἂν εἴη, ὅσον ἐκκαθᾶραι μόνον τὸν ἐπιγινόμενον ἀπὸ κακίας ῥύπον αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ κεκαλυμμένον ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ κάλλος διαφωτίσαι. Τὸ δὲ τοιοῦτον δόγμα καὶ ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ διδάσκειν οἶμαι τὸν κύριον λέγοντα πρὸς τοὺς ἀκούειν δυναμένους τῆς ἐν μυστηρίῳ λαλουμένης σοφίας, ὅτι «Ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ἐντὸς ὑμῶν ἐστιν.» Ἐνδείκνυται γάρ, οἶμαι, ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ, ὅτι τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀγαθὸν οὐ διώρισται τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν οὐδὲ πόρρωθέν που τῶν ζητεῖν αὐτὸν προαιρουμένων ἀπῴκισται, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ ἐν ἑκάστῳ ἐστίν, ἀγνοούμενον μὲν καὶ λανθάνον, ὅταν «ὑπὸ τῶν μεριμνῶν τε καὶ ἡδονῶν τοῦ βίου συμπνίγηται», εὑρισκόμενον δὲ πάλιν, ὅταν εἰς ἐκεῖνο τὴν διάνοιαν ἡμῶν ἐπιστρέψωμεν. Εἰ δὲ χρὴ καὶ δι' ἑτέρων τὸν λόγον πιστώσασθαι, τοῦτο καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀναζητήσει τῆς ἀπολομένης δραχμῆς οἶμαι τὸν κύριον ἡμῖν ὑποτίθεσθαι, ὡς οὐδὲν ὄφελος ὂν ἐκ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀρετῶν, ἃς δραχμὰς ὁ λόγος ὠνόμασε, κἂν πᾶσαι παροῦσαι τύχωσι, τῆς μιᾶς ἐκείνης ἀπούσης τῇ χηρευούσῃ ψυχῇ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πρῶτον μὲν ἅπτειν λύχνον κελεύει, τὸν λόγον τάχα σημαίνων τὸν τὰ κεκρυμμένα διαφωτίζοντα· εἶτα ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ οἰκίᾳ, του τέστιν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, ζητεῖν τὴν ἀπολομένην δραχμήν. ∆ιὰ δὲ τῆς ζητουμένης δραχμῆς τὴν εἰκόνα πάντως τοῦ βασιλέως αἰνίσσεται, τὴν οὐχὶ παντελῶς ἀπολομένην, ἀλλ' ὑπο κεκρυμμένην τῇ κόπρῳ. Κόπρον δὲ χρὴ νοεῖν, ὡς οἶμαι, τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς ῥυπαρίαν, ἧς ἀποσαρωθείσης καὶ ἀποκα θαρθείσης διὰ τῆς ἐπιμελείας τοῦ βίου ἔκδηλον τὸ ζητού μενον γίνεσθαι, ἐφ' ᾧ εἰκότως αὐτήν τε τὴν εὑροῦσαν χαίρειν ψυχὴν καὶ εἰς κοινωνίαν τῆς εὐφροσύνης συμπαρα λαμβάνειν τὰς γείτονας. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ πᾶσαι αἱ σύνοικοι τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις, ἃς γείτονας νῦν προσηγόρευσεν, ἐπειδὰν συνανακαλυφθῇ καὶ ἐκλάμψῃ αὕτη ἡ μεγάλη τοῦ βασιλέως εἰκών, ἣν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐνεσημήνατο ἡμῶν τῇ δραχμῇ «ὁ πλάσας κατὰ