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Unbelief is fornication. For who (believing that God is everywhere and is present to what happens and stands by every deed and looks into the counsels of hearts) either accepts an evil thought, or accomplishes the evil deed? But either supposing that God does not watch over, or that he does not care for what happens, thus do men rush toward unholy deeds. But sometimes it is also said of a Church (may it be far from being said of ours) the saying, How has the faithful city, Zion, become a harlot? When, casting off the word of faith (to which from the beginning, according to the tradition of the fathers, she was joined in marriage, by those who presented her as a pure virgin to one Husband) she accepts many and various seeds of the word from those who have prostituted the majesty of the mysteries, and who for the corruption of souls sow the doctrines of impiety. It will also be said of her justly, How has the faithful city, Zion, become a harlot? For the holy Angels, who have been entrusted with the protection of the Churches, knowing the ancient things, and looking also to the present things, to these, will say in wonder: How has the faithful city become a harlot? From her fornication having gathered murderers also, murderers not of bodies, but of souls; who in deceit and fraud take away the life of the more simple? as if with a kind of sword, with the word sharpened for plausible speech through the wisdom of the world, they inflict deadly wounds upon souls. Then the explanation of the cause, for what reason the formerly faithful [city] became a harlot. 1.47 Your silver is unapproved. That is, the word of faith is counterfeit and spurious, not preserving the exact character of the royal image. For that the riddle points to this and names the word of faith silver, is shown from many places; and especially from, The oracles of the Lord are pure oracles, silver refined, tested for the earth. Search, therefore, the chambers of your hearts. Examine for me all things in the hidden storehouses, lest somewhere there be a counterfeit drachma, that is, lest there be some falsified doctrine, not stamped by the Spirit with its own characters of truth, which he bestowed on us through Prophets and Apostles, but by designing men from their own invention secretly and undetectably counterfeiting, who, introducing foreign coins, bearing the form of the enemy, into the royal treasures, have both corrupted the great wealth and have created doubt in the choice for the many. For few are the approved money-changers. Few are those who are able to test all things and to hold fast to what is good, but to abstain from every form of evil. 1.48 Your retailers mix the wine with water. Hear even the bare word, you who sell wine, and do not adulterate creation. For the matter is not a game, but an evil deemed worthy of the greatest accusation. But nevertheless, the discourse hastens to the spiritual meaning. Wine is that which gladdens the heart of man, that is, the mind and the ruling part of the soul, the teachings of the Scriptures, through the holy Apostles and Prophets, the Spirit pouring out for us for eternal gladness. Which things many, retailing, water down the word, mixing their own mind harmfully for the hearers; for gratifying their pleasures and flattering through pleasant-sounding speech, they nourish their passions unto perdition; relaxing the austere and vigorous and beneficially astringent quality of the Scriptures, going through certain uninstructed philanthropies and indiscriminate forgivenesses of sins, and such pleasing things to the many for the ruin of the hearers, they further effeminate the souls of the pleasure-loving. 1.49 Your rulers are disobedient. We are the retailers, we are also the rulers, who through disobeying and not believing are the first to make the faithful cities fall into fornication. For the governed are naturally formed, for the most part, according to the character of those who rule; so that whatever sort

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πορνείας ἡ ἀπιστία. Τίς γὰρ (πιστεύων εἶναι πανταχοῦ τὸν Θεὸν καὶ παρεῖναι τοῖς γινομένοις καὶ ἑκάστῃ πράξει παρεστάναι καὶ ταῖς βουλαῖς τῶν καρδιῶν ἐνορᾷν) ἢ τὴν ἔννοιαν τὴν πονηρὰν παραδέχεται, ἢ τελεσιουργεῖ τὸ κακόν; Ἀλλ' ἢ μὴ ἐφορᾷν τὸν Θεὸν, ἢ μὴ μέλειν αὐτῷ τῶν γιγνομένων ὑπολαμβάνοντες, οὕτως ὁρμῶσι πρὸς τὰς ἀνοσίας πράξεις οἱ ἄνθρωποι. Λέγεται δέ ποτε καὶ ἐπὶ Ἐκκλησίας (ὅπερ ἀπείη λεχθῆναι ἐπὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας) τὸ Πῶς ἐγένετο πόρνη πόλις πιστὴ Σιών; Ὅταν, ἀποβάλλουσα τὸν λόγον τῆς πίστεως (ᾧ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν πατέρων, συνενυμφεύθη, τῶν παραστησάν των αὐτὴν ἑνὶ Ἀνδρὶ παρθένον ἁγνὴν) πολλὰ καὶ ποικίλα παραδέχεται τοῦ λόγου σπέρματα παρὰ τῶν τὴν σεμνότητα τῶν μυστηρίων ἐκπορνευσάντων, καὶ ἐπὶ διαφθορᾷ τῶν ψυχῶν τὰ δόγματα τῆς ἀσεβείας διασπειρόντων. Λεχθήσε ται καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῆς δικαίως τὸ Πῶς ἐγένετο πόρνη ἡ πόλις πιστὴ Σιών; Οἱ γὰρ ἅγιοι Ἄγγελοι, οἱ τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τὰς προστασίας πεπιστευμένοι, γνωρίζοντες τὰ ἀρχαῖα, ἀφο ρῶντες καὶ πρὸς τὰ νῦν, πρὸς τούτους, ἐροῦσι θαυμαστικῶς· Πῶς ἐγένετο πόρνη πόλις πιστή; Ἐκ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς καὶ φονευτὰς συναθροίσασα, φονευτὰς οὐχὶ σωμάτων, ἀλλὰ ψυχῶν· ἐν δολιότητι καὶ ἀπάτῃ τὴν ζωὴν ἀφαιρου μένους τῶν ἁπλουστέρων; οἱονεὶ ξίφει τινὶ τῷ λόγῳ διὰ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου σοφίας εἰς πιθανολογίαν ἠκονημένοι, θανά σιμα τραύματα ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐμποιοῦσιν. Εἶτα ἡ τῆς αἰτίας ἀπόδοσις, δι' ἣν αἰτίαν ἐγένετο πόρνη ἡ πρότερον πιστή. 1.47 Τὸ ἀργύριον ὑμῶν ἀδόκιμον. Τουτέστιν ὁ τῆς πίστεως λόγος παρατετυπωμένος ἐστὶ καὶ παράσημος, τὸν ἀκριβῆ χαρακτῆρα τῆς βασιλικῆς εἰκόνος μὴ διασώζων. Ὅτι γὰρ εἰς τοῦτο φέρει τὸ αἴνιγμα καὶ ἀργύριον ὀνομάζει τὸν λόγον τῆς πίστεως, πολλαχόθεν δείκνυται· καὶ μάλιστα ἐκ τοῦ Τὰ λόγια Κυρίου, λόγια ἁγνά, ἀργύριον πεπυ ρωμένον, δοκίμιον τῇ γῇ. Ἐρευνήσατε οὖν ὑμῶν τὰ ταμεῖα τῶν καρδιῶν. Πάντα μοι περισκέψασθε ἐν ταῖς κρυπταῖς ἀπο θήκαις, μή που κίβδηλος ᾖ δραχμή, τουτέστι μή που δόγμα παραπεποιημένον, οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος σημειωθὲν ἐν τοῖς ἰδίοις αὐτοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας χαράγμασιν, ἃ διὰ Προφητῶν ἡμῖν καὶ Ἀποστόλων ἐχαρίσατο, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ ἀνδρῶν ἐπιβούλων ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας ἐπινοίας λαθραίως καὶ δυσφωράτως παρακοπ τόντων, οἳ τὰ ἀλλότρια νομίσματα, τὴν τοῦ ἐχθροῦ μορφὴν περικείμενα, τοῖς βασιλικοῖς θησαυροῖς ἐπεισάγοντες, τόν τε μέγαν πλοῦτον διέφθειραν καὶ ἀμφιβολίαν τῆς ἐκλογῆς τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐνεποίησαν. Ὀλίγοι, γὰρ οἱ δόκιμοι τραπεζῖται. Ὀλίγοι, οἱ πάντα δοκιμάζειν δυνάμενοι καὶ τὰ μὲν καλὰ κατέχειν, ἀπὸ δὲ παντὸς εἴδους πονηροῦ ἀπέχεσθαι. 1.48 Οἱ κάπηλοί σου μίσγουσι τὸν οἶνον ὕδατι. Ἀκούσατε μὲν καὶ ψιλοῦ τοῦ ῥήματος, οἱ τὸν οἶνον πωλοῦν τες, καὶ μὴ δολοῦτε τὴν κτίσιν. Οὐ γὰρ παιδιὰ τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἀλλὰ κακὸν τῆς μεγίστης κατηγορίας ἠξιωμένον. Πλὴν ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὸν πνευματικὸν νοῦν ὁ λόγος ἐπείγεται. Οἶνός ἐστιν εὐφραίνων καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου, τουτέστι τὸν νοῦν καὶ τὸ ἡγε μονικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς, τὰ διδάγματα τῶν Γραφῶν, διὰ τῶν ἁγίων Ἀποστόλων καὶ Προφητῶν εἰς εὐφροσύνην αἰώνιον οἰνοχοοῦντος ἡμῖν τοῦ Πνεύματος. Ἅπερ οἱ πολλοὶ καπη λεύοντες, τὸν λόγον ἐξυδαροῦσιν, ἐπιμιγνύντες τὸν ἑαυτῶν νοῦν ἐπιβλαβῶς τοῖς ἀκούουσι· καταχαριζόμενοι γὰρ αὐ τῶν ταῖς ἡδοναῖς καὶ διὰ τῆς χρηστολογίας κολακεύοντες, αὐτῶν τὰ πάθη τρέφουσιν εἰς ἀπώλειαν· τὸ αὐστηρὸν καὶ εὔτονον καὶ ὠφελίμως ἐπιστῦφον τῶν Γραφῶν ὑπεκλύοντες, φιλανθρωπίας τινὰς ἀπαιδεύτους καὶ συγχωρήσεις ἁμαρ τημάτων ἀκρίτους, καὶ τοιαῦτά τινα κεχαρισμένα τοῖς πολ λοῖς ἐπὶ καταστροφῇ τῶν ἀκουόντων διεξιόντες, ἐπὶ πλεῖον τῶν φιληδόνων τὰς ψυχὰς ἐκθηλύνουσιν. 1.49 Οἱ ἄρχοντές σου ἀπειθοῦσιν. Ἡμεῖς οἱ κάπηλοι, ἡμεῖς καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες, οἱ διὰ τὸ ἀπειθεῖν καὶ μὴ πιστεύειν πρῶτοι ποιοῦντες τὰς πόλεις τὰς πιστὰς μεταπίπτειν εἰς τὰς πορνείας. Πρὸς γὰρ τὸ τῶν κρατούντων ἦθος πλάττεσθαι πέφυκεν, ὡς τὰ πολλὰ, τὸ ἀρχόμενον· ὥστε ὁποῖοί