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I have learned and have kept from the beginning unto this gray hair. If therefore you believe and are baptized, you will be saved; but if you disbelieve, you will be condemned. For these things which you see today and in which you take pride, both glory and luxury and wealth and every deceit of life, in a little while pass away, and they will cast you out from here even if you are unwilling. And the body will be shut up in a very small tomb, left all alone, and deprived of all company of friends and relatives; and the pleasures of the world will be gone, and great loathsomeness and foul-smelling decay, instead of the present beauty and sweet smell, will be poured around it; but your soul they will cast into the subterranean places of the earth, in the condemnation of Hades, until the last resurrection, when the soul, having received again its own 144 body, will be cast out from the face of the Lord, and will be delivered to the fire of Gehenna which burns without end. These things will happen to you and much worse than these, if you remain in unbelief. But if you will readily obey Him who calls you to salvation, and, running to Him with desire and joy, you will be marked with His light, and will follow Him without turning back, having renounced all things, clinging to Him alone, hear what security and gladness you will obtain: If you sit, you shall be without fear; and if you sleep, you shall sleep sweetly, and you shall not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of the assaults of the wicked demons as they come on; but you shall go confidently as a lion, and you shall live with gladness and everlasting joy; for upon your head shall be joy and praise, and gladness shall take hold of you; where pain, sorrow and sighing have fled away; then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of God shall compass you; then you shall cry, and God shall hear you; while you are still speaking, He will say: Behold, I am here; for I am He who blots out your iniquities and will not remember them; but you, remember, and let us be judged; declare your iniquities, that you may be justified. and though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and though they be as crimson, I will make them white as wool. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things. 146 χι Joasaph says to him: All your words are good and wonderful, and I have believed and do believe, having hated all idolatry from my heart; and, for before you came in to me, my soul was somehow disposed sideways and hesitatingly toward it; but now I have hated it with a perfect hatred, having learned from you the vanity of these things and the foolishness of those who worship them. But I long to become a servant of the true God, if indeed He will not reject me, the unworthy one, because of my iniquities, but will forgive me all things, being a lover of mankind and compassionate, as you teach, and will count me worthy to become His servant. Therefore I am now ready both to receive baptism, and to keep all that you tell me. But what must I do after baptism? And is this alone sufficient for salvation, to believe and be baptized, or must other things be added? And Barlaam says to him: Hear what you must do after baptism; to abstain from every sin and every passion, and to build upon the foundation of the orthodox faith the practice of the virtues, since faith without works is dead, just as works are without faith. For the Apostle says: Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desire of the flesh; Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are: adulteries, fornications, impurities, licentiousness, idolatries, sorceries, enmities, strife, jealousies, 148 fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, heresies, envies, murders, avarice, revilings, love of pleasure, drunkenness, carousing, arrogance, and things like these; of which I tell you beforehand, as I also told you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God; but the fruit of the Spirit

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μεμάθηκα καὶ τετήρηκα ἐξ ἀρχῆς εἰς τήνδε τὴν πολιάν. εἰ οὖν πιστεύσεις καὶ βαπτισθῇς, σωθήσῃ· εἰ δὲ ἀπιστήσεις, κατακριθήσῃ. ταῦτα γὰρ ἃ σήμερον ὁρᾷς καὶ οἷς σεμνύνῃ, ἥ τε δόξα καὶ τρυφὴ καὶ ὁ πλοῦτος καὶ πᾶσα ἡ τοῦ βίου ἀπάτη, ὅσον οὔπω παρέρχεται, ἐκβαλοῦσι δέ σε καὶ μὴ βουλόμενον ἐντεῦθεν. καὶ τὸ μὲν σῶμα κατακλεισθήσεται σμικροτάτῳ μνήματι μονώτατον καταλειφθέν, πάσης τε ἀποστερηθὲν φίλων καὶ συγγενῶν ἑταιρείας· οἰχήσεται δὲ τὰ τερπνὰ τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ πολλὴ ἀηδία καὶ δυσώδης φθορά, ἀντὶ τῆς νυνὶ καλλονῆς καὶ εὐοσμίας, περιχυθήσεται· τὴν δὲ ψυχήν σου βαλοῦσιν ἐν τοῖς καταχθονίοις τῆς γῆς, ἐν τῇ καταδίκῃ τοῦ ᾅδου, ἕως τῆς τελευταίας ἀναστάσεως, ἡνίκα πάλιν ἀπολαβοῦσα ἡ ψυχὴ τὸ ἑαυτῆς 144 σῶμα ἐκριφθήσεται ἐκ προσώπου Κυρίου, καὶ παραδοθήσεται πυρὶ γεέννης ἀτελεύτητα φλογιζούσης. ταῦτά σοι συμβήσεται καὶ πολλῷ τούτων χείρονα, εἰ ἐμμείνῃς τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ. Εἰ δὲ προθύμως ὑπακούσεις τῷ καλοῦντί σε εἰς σωτηρίαν, καί, προσδραμὼν αὐτῷ πόθῳ καὶ χαρᾷ, τῷ φωτὶ αὐτοῦ σημειωθήσῃ, καὶ ἀμεταστρεπτὶ αὐτῷ ἀκολουθήσεις, πάντα μὲν ἀπαρνησάμενος, αὐτῷ μόνῳ κεκολλημένος, ὁποίας τεύξῃ ἀσφαλείας καὶ εὐφροσύνης ἄκουσον· Ἐὰν κάθῃ, ἄφοβος ἔσῃ· ἐὰν δὲ καθεύδῃς, ἡδέως ὑπνώσεις, καὶ οὐ φοβηθήσῃ πτόησιν ἐπελθοῦσαν, οὐδὲ ὁρμὰς τῶν ἀσεβῶν δαιμόνων ἐπερχομένας· ἀλλὰ πορεύσῃ πεποιθὼς ὡς λέων, καὶ ζήσῃ μετ' εὐφροσύνης καὶ ἀγαλλιάματος αἰωνίου· ἐπὶ γὰρ τῆς κεφαλῆς σου ἀγαλλίασις καὶ αἴνεσις, καὶ εὐφροσύνη καταλήψεταί σε· ἔνθα ἀπέδρα ὀδύνη, λύπη καὶ στεναγμός· τότε ῥαγήσεται πρώϊμον τὸ φῶς σου, καὶ τὰ ἰάματά σου ταχὺ ἀνατελεῖ, καὶ προπορεύσεται ἔμπροσθέν σου ἡ δικαιοσύνη σου, καὶ ἡ δόξα τοῦ Θεοῦ περιστελεῖ σε· τότε βοήσῃ, καὶ ὁ Θεὸς εἰσακούσεταί σου· ἔτι λαλοῦντός σου ἐρεῖ· Ἰδοὺ πάρειμι· ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ὁ ἐξαλείφων τὰς ἀνομίας σου καὶ οὐ μνησθῶ· σὺ δὲ μνήσθητι καὶ κριθῶμεν· λέγε σὺ τὰς ἀνομίας σου, ἵνα δικαιωθῇς. καὶ ἐὰν ὦσιν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου ὡς φοινικοῦν, ὡς χιόνα λευκανῶ· ἐὰν δὲ ὦσιν ὡς κόκκινον, ὡς ἔριον λευκανῶ. τὸ γὰρ στόμα Κυρίου ἐλάλησε ταῦτα. 146 χι Λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰωάσαφ· Πάντα σου τὰ ῥήματα καλὰ καὶ θαυμαστά εἰσι, κἀγὼ ἐπίστευσα καὶ πιστεύω, πᾶσαν μὲν εἰδωλολατρείαν ἀπὸ καρδίας μισήσας· καί, πρὸ τοῦ εἰσελθεῖν γάρ σε πρός με, πλαγίως πως καὶ διστάζων πρὸς ταύτην διέκειτό μου ἡ ψυχή· νυνὶ δὲ τέλειον μῖσος ἐμίσησα, μαθὼν παρὰ σοῦ τὴν ματαιότητα τούτων καὶ τὴν ἀφροσύνην τῶν αὐτοῖς λατρευόντων. Ποθῶ δὲ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ Θεοῦ δοῦλος γενέσθαι, εἴπερ οὐκ ἀπώσεταί με τὸν ἀνάξιον διὰ τὰς ἐμὰς ἀνομίας, ἀλλὰ συγχωρήσει μοι πάντα, φιλάνθρωπος ὢν καὶ εὔσπλαγχνος, καθὰ διδάσκεις, καὶ ἀξιώσει με δοῦλον αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι. ἤδη οὖν ἑτοίμως ἔχω καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα δέξασθαι, καὶ πάντα ὅσα εἴπῃς μοι φυλάξαι. τί δὲ χρή με ποιεῖν μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα; καὶ εἰ ἀρκεῖ τοῦτο μόνον πρὸς σωτηρίαν, τὸ πιστεῦσαι καὶ βαπτισθῆναι, ἢ καὶ ἄλλα τινὰ δεῖ προστιθέναι; Καί φησι πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Βαρλαάμ· Ἄκουσον τί δεῖ ποιεῖν μετὰ τὸ βάπτισμα· πάσης μὲν ἁμαρτίας καὶ παντὸς πάθους ἀπέχεσθαι, ἐποικοδομεῖν δὲ ἐπὶ τῷ θεμελίῳ τῆς ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως τὴν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐργασίαν, ἐπειδὴ πίστις χωρὶς τῶν ἔργων νεκρά ἐστιν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἔργα πίστεως δίχα. φησὶ γὰρ ὁ Ἀπόστολος· Ἐν πνεύματι περιπατεῖτε, καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν σαρκὸς οὐ μὴ τελέσητε· φανερὰ δέ ἐστι τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκὸς ἅτινά ἐστι, μοιχεῖαι, πορνεῖαι, ἀκαθαρσίαι, ἀσέλγειαι, εἰδωλολατρείαι, φαρμακεῖαι, ἔχθραι, ἔρις, ζῆλοι, 148 θυμοί, ἐρίθειαι, διχοστασίαι, αἱρέσεις, φθόνοι, φόνοι, φιλαργυρίαι, λοιδορίαι, φιληδονίαι, μέθαι, κῶμοι, ὑπερηφανίαι, καὶ τὰ ὅμοια τούτοις· ἃ προλέγω ὑμῖν, καθὼς καὶ προεῖπον, ὅτι οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσσοντες βασιλείαν Θεοῦ οὐ κληρονομήσουσιν· ὁ δὲ καρπὸς τοῦ πνεύματός