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Guard these present things, and the Lord, being in every way very compassionate, will heal them if you no longer defile your flesh nor your spirit. For both are united, and cannot be defiled without one another. Therefore, keep both pure, and you will live to God.

Parable 6

As I was sitting in my house and glorifying the Lord concerning all the things I had seen, and considering the commandments, that they are beautiful and powerful and cheerful and glorious and able to save the soul of man, I was saying these things to myself: I will be blessed, if I walk in these commandments, and whoever walks in them will be blessed.

While I was speaking these things to myself, I suddenly see him sitting beside me and saying these things: Why are you of two minds concerning the commandments which I have commanded you? They are beautiful. Do not be of two minds at all, but put on the faith of the Lord and you will walk in them; for I will strengthen you in them.

These commandments are profitable for those who are about to repent; for if they do not walk in them, their repentance is in vain.

You therefore who repent, cast away the evils of this world which wear you down; and having put on every virtue of righteousness, you will be able to keep these commandments and no longer add to your sins. Therefore, adding nothing, you will cut off much of your former sins. Therefore walk in my commandments, and you will live to God. These things have been spoken to you by me.

After he spoke these things with me, he says to me: Let us go into the field, and I will show you the shepherds of the sheep. Let us go, I say, Lord. We came to a certain plain, and he shows me a young shepherd dressed in a set of garments of a saffron color. And he was feeding very many sheep, and these sheep were as if living in luxury and very wanton, and were cheerfully skipping here and there, and the shepherd himself was cheerful over his flock; and the very appearance of the shepherd was very cheerful, and he ran about among the sheep.

He says to me: Do you see, he says, this shepherd? I see, I say, Lord. This, he says, is the angel of luxury and deceit. This one therefore wears down the souls of the empty servants of God and turns them away from the truth, deceiving them with evil desires, in which they perish. For they forget the commandments of the living God and walk in deceits and vain luxuries, and are destroyed by this angel, some to death, and some to corruption.

I say to him: Lord, I do not know what is 'to death' and what is 'to corruption.' Listen, he says: As many sheep as you saw that were very cheerful and skipping, these are the ones who have departed from God completely and have given themselves over to the desires of this world. In these, therefore, there is no repentance of life, because they added blasphemy against the name of the Lord. Of such, therefore, is death.

But those which you saw not skipping but feeding in one place, these are they who have given themselves over to luxuries and deceits, but have not blasphemed against the Lord. These therefore are corrupted from the truth; in these therefore there is hope of repentance, in which they are able to live. Corruption, therefore, has some hope of renewal, but death has eternal destruction.

Again we went forward a little, and he shows me a great shepherd, as it were savage in appearance, clothed in a white goatskin, and he had a certain pouch on his shoulder and a very hard staff with knots on it and a great whip; and his gaze was very bitter,

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τὰ νῦν φύλασσε, καὶ ὁ κύριος πάντως πολύσπλαγχνος ὢν αὐτὰ ἰάσεται ἐάν σου τὴν σάρκα λοιπὸν μὴ μιάνῃς μηδὲ τὸ πνεῦμα· ἀμφότερα γὰρ κοινά ἐστιν καὶ ἄτερ ἀλλήλων μιανθῆναι οὐ δύναται. ἀμφότερα οὖν καθαρὰ φύ λασσε, καὶ ζήσῃ τῷ θεῷ. Παραβολὴ Ϛ Καθήμενος ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ μου καὶ δοξάζων τὸν κύριον περὶ πάντων ὧν ἑωράκειν καὶ συνζητῶν περὶ τῶν ἐντολῶν, ὅτι καλαὶ καὶ δυναταὶ καὶ ἱλαραὶ καὶ ἔνδοξοι καὶ δυνάμεναι σῶσαι ψυχὴν ἀνθρώπου, ἔλεγον ἐν ἐμαυτῷ ταῦτα· Μακάριος ἔσομαι, ἐὰν ἐν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς ταύταις πορευθῶ, καὶ ὃς ἐὰν πορεύ σηται ἐν αὐταῖς μακάριος ἔσται. ἕως ταῦτα ἐν ἐμαυτῷ λαλῶ, βλέπω αὐτὸν ἐξαίφνης παρακαθήμενόν μοι καὶ λέγοντα ταῦτα· Τί διψυχεῖς περὶ τῶν ἐντολῶν ὧν σοι ἐντέταλμαι; καλαί εἰσιν· ὅλως μηδὲν διψυχήσῃς, ἀλλ' ἔνδυσαι τὴν πίστιν τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἐν αὐταῖς πορεύσῃ· ἐγὼ γάρ σε δυναμώσω ἐν αὐταῖς. αὗται αἱ ἐντολαὶ σύμφοροί εἰσιν τοῖς μέλλουσι μετανοεῖν· ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ πορευ θῶσιν ἐν αὐταῖς, εἰς μάτην ἐστὶν ἡ μετάνοια αὐτῶν. οἱ οὖν μετανοοῦντες ἀποβάλετε τὰς πονηρίας τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου τὰς ἐκτριβούσας ὑμᾶς· ἐνδυσά μενοι δὲ πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν δικαιοσύνης δυνήσεσθε τηρῆσαι τὰς ἐντολὰς ταύτας καὶ μηκέτι προστίθετε ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν. μηδὲν οὖν προστιθέντες πολὺ κόψετε τῶν προτέρων ὑμῶν ἁμαρτιῶν. πορεύεσθε οὖν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς μου, καὶ ζήσεσθε τῷ θεῷ. ταῦτα παρ' ἐμοῦ λελάληται ὑμῖν. μετὰ τὸ ταῦτα λαλῆσαι αὐτὸν μετ' ἐμοῦ, λέγει μοι· Ἄγωμεν εἰς ἀγρόν, καὶ δείξω σοι τοὺς ποιμένας τῶν προβάτων. Ἄγωμεν, φημί, κύριε. ἤλθομεν εἴς τι πεδίον, καὶ δεικνύει μοι ποιμένα νεανίσκον ἐνδεδυμένον σύνθεσιν ἱματίων τῷ χρώματι κροκώδη. ἔβοσκε δὲ πρόβατα πολλὰ λίαν, καὶ τὰ πρόβατα ταῦτα ὡσεὶ τρυφῶντα ἦν καὶ λίαν σπαταλῶντα καὶ ἱλαρὰ ἦν σκιρτῶντα ὧδε καὶ ἐκεῖ, καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ ποιμὴν ἱλαρὸς ἦν ἐπὶ τῷ ποιμνίῳ αὐτοῦ· καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ ἰδέα τοῦ ποιμένος λίαν ἱλαρὰ ἦν καὶ ἐν τοῖς πρόβασι περιέτρεχεν. Λέγει μοι· Βλέπεις, φησίν, τὸν ποιμένα τοῦτον; Βλέπω, φημί, κύριε. Oὗτος, φησίν, ἐστὶν ἄγγελος τρυφῆς καὶ ἀπάτης. οὗτος οὖν ἐκτρίβει τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν δούλων τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν κενῶν καὶ καταστρέφει αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας, ἀπατῶν αὐτοὺς ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις ταῖς πονηραῖς, ἐν αἷς ἀπόλλυνται. ἐπι λανθάνονται γὰρ τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος καὶ πορεύονται ταῖς ἀπάταις καὶ τρυφαῖς ταῖς ματαίαις καὶ ἀπόλλυνται ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀγγέλου τούτου, τινὰ μὲν εἰς θάνατον, τινὰ δὲ εἰς καταφθοράν. λέγω αὐτῷ· Κύριε, οὐ γινώσκω ἐγώ, τί εἰς θάνατον καὶ τί εἰς καταφθοράν ἐστιν. Ἄκουε, φησίν· ὅσα εἶδες πρόβατα λίαν ἱλαρὰ καὶ σκιρτῶντα, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ ἀφεσταμένοι ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς τέλος καὶ παραδεδωκότες ἑαυτοὺς ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου· ἐν τούτοις οὖν μετάνοια ζωῆς οὐκ ἔστιν, ὅτι προσέθηκαν κατὰ ὄνομα τοῦ κυρίου βλασφημίαν· τῶν τοιούτων οὖν ὁ θάνατος. ἃ δὲ εἶδες μὴ σκιρ τῶντα ἀλλὰ ἐν ἑνὶ τόπῳ βοσκόμενα, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ παραδεδωκότες μὲν ἑαυτοὺς ταῖς τρυφαῖς καὶ ἀπάταις, εἰς δὲ τὸν κύριον οὐκ ἐβλασφήμησαν. οὗτοι οὖν κατεφθαρμένοι εἰσὶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας· ἐν τούτοις οὖν ἐλπίς ἐστιν μετανοίας, ἐν ᾗ δύνανται ζῆσαι. ἡ καταφθορὰ οὖν ἐλπίδα ἔχει ἀνα νεώσεώς τινα, ὁ δὲ θάνατος ἀπώλειαν ἔχει αἰώνιον. πάλιν προέβημεν μι κρόν, καὶ δεικνύει μοι ποιμένα μέγαν ὡσεὶ ἄγριον τῇ ἰδέᾳ, περικείμενον δέρμα αἴγειον λευκόν, καὶ πήραν τινὰ εἶχεν ἐπὶ τὸν ὦμον καὶ ·άβδον σκληρὰν λίαν καὶ ὄζους ἔχουσαν καὶ μάστιγα μεγάλην· καὶ τὸ βλέμμα εἶχεν περίπικρον,