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to go beyond the commandments and the ordinances; for the whole thing no longer comes from the necessity of teaching, but from one's own choice. For just as the earth ought not to bear only what has been sown; so also the soul ought not to stop at what has been sown, but to go beyond it. Do you see that he reasonably said, to go beyond? For virtue is divided into these two things, turning away from evil, and doing good. For withdrawal from evil things is not sufficient for the approach of virtue, but it is a certain path and a beginning that leads there, and we need much eagerness. Therefore, the things to be avoided he tells them in the manner of a command, with good reason; for these things, when practiced, bring punishment, but when not practiced, not even praise. But the things of virtue, such as to empty out one's possessions, and whatever is of that sort, he no longer states in the manner of a command; but what? He who is able to accept it, let him accept it. It is likely, then, that what he had commanded them with much fear and trembling, he also reminded them of that reverence through these letters. Therefore he does not set them down, but reminds them. For you know, he says, what commands we gave you through our Lord Jesus Christ. For this is the will of God, your sanctification. And see how nowhere does he allude to anything else so vehemently as to this; just as also writing elsewhere, he says: Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. And why are you surprised, if he writes about this everywhere to his disciples, when he even wrote to Timothy, saying: Keep yourself pure? And in the second Epistle to the Corinthians, writing, he said: In much patience, in 62.424 fastings, in purity. And one might find this in many places, both in the Epistle to the Romans, and in all the epistles. For truly this evil thing harms everyone; and just as a pig filled with mire, wherever it enters, has filled everything with stench, and has filled the senses with dung, so also is fornication; for the evil is hard to wash out. But when some who even have wives do this, how great is the excess of absurdity? For this is, he says, the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from all fornication. For there are many kinds of disorder, the pleasures of licentiousness are manifold and various, which it is not even tolerable to mention. And having said, From all fornication, he leaves it to those who know. That each one of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. Not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God. To know, he says, how each one of you should possess his own vessel. So then the matter is one of learning, and of much learning, so as not to be licentious. So we possess it, when it remains pure and is in sanctification; but when it is impure, it is sin; with good reason. For it no longer does what we want, but what that thing commands; Not in the passion of lust, he says. Here he shows also the manner in which one must be temperate, so as to cut off the passions of lust. For luxury, and wealth, and indolence, and idleness, and leisure, and all these things lead us out into unseemly desire. Like, he says, the Gentiles who do not know God. For such are they, who do not expect to give an account. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in the matter. 2. He said well, Not to go beyond; for to each man God has assigned a wife, and has set limits for nature, that union which is with one. So that union with another is a transgression and robbery and covetousness; or rather, more grievous than any robbery. For we are not so grieved when our money is carried off, as when our marriage is broken into. You call him brother, and you defraud him, and in things in which you ought not? Here he speaks of adultery; but above also of all fornication. For since he was about to say that no man go beyond or defraud his brother, having said before, lest you think, he says, that concerning

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ὑπερβαίνειν τὰς ἐντολὰς καὶ τὰ διατάγματα· οὐκέτι γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς διδασκαλικῆς ἀνάγκης, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς οἰκείας προαιρέσεως γίνεται τὸ πᾶν. Καθάπερ γὰρ τὴν γῆν οὐ τὰ καταβληθέντα δεῖ φέρειν μόνον· οὕτω καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν οὐ μέχρις ἐκείνων ἵστασθαι τῶν καταβληθέντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπερβαίνειν. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι εἰκότως εἶπεν, ὑπερβαίνειν; Εἰς δύο γὰρ ταῦτα ἀρετὴ διῄρηται, εἰς τὸ ἐκκλίνειν ἀπὸ κακοῦ, καὶ ποιεῖν ἀγαθόν. Οὐ γὰρ ἀρκεῖ τῶν κακῶν ἡ ἀναχώρησις εἰς τὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς προσαγωγὴν, ἀλλ' ὁδὸς μέν τίς ἐστι καὶ ἀρχὴ ἐκεῖ φέρουσα, δεῖ δὲ πολλῆς ἡμῖν τῆς προθυμίας. Τὰ μὲν οὖν φευκτέα ἐν τάξει παραγγελίας αὐτοῖς λέγει, εἰκότως· ταῦτα γὰρ πραττόμενα μὲν φέρει κόλασιν, μὴ πραττόμενα δὲ, οὐδὲ ἐγκώμιον. Τὰ μέντοι τῆς ἀρετῆς, οἷον τὸ κενῶσαι τὰ χρήματα, καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, οὐκέτι ἐν παραγγελίας τάξει φησίν· ἀλλὰ τί; Ὁ δυνάμενος χωρεῖν χωρείτω. Εἰκὸς οὖν αὐτὸν ἃ μετὰ πολλοῦ φόβου καὶ τρόμου ἦν παρηγγελκὼς αὐτοῖς, καὶ ἀναμιμνήσκειν διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων τούτων ἐκείνης αὐτοὺς τῆς εὐλαβείας. ∆ιόπερ οὐ τίθησιν αὐτὰ, ἀλλ' αὐτοὺς ἀναμιμνήσκει. Οἴδατε γὰρ, φησὶ, τίνας παραγγελίας ἐδώκαμεν ὑμῖν διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι θέλημα Θεοῦ, ὁ ἁγιασμὸς ὑμῶν. Καὶ θέα πῶς οὐδαμοῦ περὶ ἄλλου τινὸς οὕτω σφοδρῶς αἰνίττεται, ὡς περὶ τούτου· καθάπερ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ γράφων, φησίν· Εἰρήνην διώκετε μετὰ πάντων καὶ τὸν ἁγιασμὸν, οὗ χωρὶς οὐδεὶς ὄψεται τὸν Κύριον. Καὶ τί θαυμάζεις, εἰ τοῖς μαθηταῖς πανταχοῦ περὶ τούτου γράφει, ὅπου γε καὶ Τιμοθέῳ γράφων ἔλεγε· Σαυτὸν ἁγνὸν τήρει; Καὶ ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ δὲ Ἐπιστολῇ τῇ πρὸς Κορινθίους γράφων ἔλεγεν· Ἐν ὑπομονῇ πολλῇ, ἐν 62.424 νηστείαις, ἐν ἁγνότητι. Καὶ πολλαχοῦ ἄν τις εὕροι τοῦτο, καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους Ἐπιστολῇ, καὶ ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖς. Ὄντως γὰρ πᾶσι τοῦτο λυμαίνεται τὸ κακόν· καὶ καθάπερ χοῖρος βορβόρου πεπληρωμένος, οὗ ἂν εἰσέλθῃ, δυσωδίας ἐνέπλησεν ἅπαντα, καὶ τὰς αἰσθήσεις ἐπλήρωσε κόπρου, οὕτω καὶ ἡ πορνεία· δυσέκνιπτον γάρ ἐστι τὸ κακόν. Ὅταν δέ τινες καὶ γυναῖκας ἔχοντες τοῦτο πράττωσι, πόση τῆς ἀτοπίας ἡ ὑπερβολή; Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι, φησὶ, θέλημα Θεοῦ ὁ ἁγιασμὸς ὑμῶν, ἀπέχεσθαι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης πορνείας. Πολλὰ γὰρ εἴδη ἀταξίας, πολύτροποι καὶ ποικίλαι τῆς ἀσελγείας αἱ ἡδοναὶ, ἃς οὐδὲ εἰπεῖν ἀνεκτόν. Εἰπὼν δὲ, Ἀπὸ πάσης πορνείας, καταλιμπάνει τοῖς εἰδόσιν. Εἰδέναι ἕνα ἕκαστον ὑμῶν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σκεῦος κτᾶσθαι ἐν ἁγιασμῷ καὶ τιμῇ. Μὴ ἐν πάθει ἐπιθυμίας, καθάπερ καὶ τὰ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ εἰδότα τὸν Θεόν. Εἰδέναι, φησὶν, ἕνα ἕκαστον ὑμῶν τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σκεῦος κτᾶσθαι. Ἄρα μαθήσεώς ἐστι τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ πολλῆς, ὥστε μὴ ἀσελγαίνειν. Ἄρα ἡμεῖς αὐτὸ κτώμεθα, ὅταν μένῃ καθαρὸν καὶ ἔστιν ἐν ἁγιασμῷ· ὅταν δὲ ἀκάθαρτον, ἁμαρτία· εἰκότως. Οὐ γὰρ ἃ βουλόμεθα πράττει λοιπὸν, ἀλλ' ἃ ἐκείνη ἐπιτάττει· Μὴ ἐν πάθει ἐπιθυμίας, φησίν. Ἐνταῦθα δείκνυσι καὶ τὸν τρόπον, καθ' ὃν χρὴ σωφρονεῖν, ὥστε τὰ πάθη τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἐκκόπτειν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τρυφὴ, καὶ πλοῦτος, καὶ ῥᾳθυμία, καὶ ἀργία, καὶ σχολὴ, καὶ ἅπαντα ταῦτα εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν ἡμᾶς ἐξάγει τὴν ἄτοπον. Καθάπερ, φησὶ, καὶ τὰ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ εἰδότα τὸν Θεόν. Ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ τοιοῦτοί εἰσιν, οἱ μὴ προσδοκῶντες δώσειν δίκην. Τὸ μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν ἐν τῷ πράγματι τὸν ἀδελφόν. βʹ. Καλῶς εἶπε, Μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν· καὶ γὰρ ἑκάστῳ ὁ Θεὸς ἀπένειμε γυναῖκα, καὶ ὅρους ἔθηκε τῇ φύσει, τὴν μίξιν ἐκείνην τὴν πρὸς τὴν μίαν. Ὥστε ἡ πρὸς τὴν ἑτέραν παράβασίς ἐστι καὶ λῃστεία καὶ πλεονεξία· μᾶλλον δὲ πάσης λῃστείας χαλεπωτέρα. Οὐ γὰρ οὕτως ἀλγοῦμεν, τῶν χρημάτων ἡμῖν ἐκφορουμένων, ὡς τοῦ γάμου διορυττομένου. Ἀδελφὸν καλεῖς, καὶ πλεονεκτεῖς, καὶ ἐν οἷς οὐ χρή; Ἐνταῦθα περὶ μοιχείας φησίν· ἀνωτέρω δὲ καὶ περὶ πορνείας πάσης. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἔμελλε λέγειν μὴ ὑπερβαίνειν μηδὲ πλεονεκτεῖν τὸν ἀδελφὸν, προλαβὼν μὴ νομίσῃς, φησὶν, ὅτι ἐπὶ τῶν