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34

he ordered Adelphius to sit down; for he was the leader of the heresy of those who were being accused, an old man and on the brink of the grave, and being, moreover, at the very gates of death. To this man the thrice-blessed Flavian said, that the accusers, being rather dull, were ignorant of the spiritual way of life. 'But we,' he said, 'who have grown old in time have received this knowledge.' 'But tell me,' he said, 'truthfully, what are these things that are said.' Thus charmed, the old man, and thinking he had found a sharer of his doctrines, confirmed the accusation by his confession. Having learned these things, therefore, the divine man, drove them from the borders of the East. And they dare to do many other works of madness. For they suddenly leap, and boast that they have leaped over demons; and with their fingers they make the gesture of archery, claiming to shoot demons. And they do certain other things similarly full of derangement, for which reason they have also received the name of Enthusiasts. The leaders of this heresy were Sabbas, and Adelphius, and Daodes, and Symeon, and Hermas, and some others. And the all-praised Letoïus, the bishop of Melitene, having exposed the heresy, wrote letters against them. But the most excellent of all, Amphilochius, who guided the Church of Iconium, denounced the heresy more accurately, having inserted their own words into the records written by him, clearly showing the divergence of their doctrine. XII. —Concerning Nestorius. Since the world was gradually declining, and hastening towards the dissolution of this universe, everyone thought himself a worthy teacher of piety, through a conceit born of ignorance, enduring to learn from no one, no longer then did the man-slaying demon, the father of lies, the sower of tares, arm himself against 83.433 the Church with external and open enemies; but having found an instrument, so to speak, that wholly received all his art at once, under the pretext of orthodoxy, he introduces the denial of both the divinity and the philanthropy of the Only-begotten, confounding the simple and artless nature of our faith with Hellenic sophistries. You have surely heard of Nestorius; for the man is famous. This man, originating from the town of Germanicea, I know not by what practices he was brought up from the beginning, passing from one country to another, like some Egyptian plague, descended upon the great city of the Antiochians. In this city, having moderately partaken of liberal studies, and having cultivated the finest and strongest voice possible, he advanced and was corrupted into the Church of God, and having been numbered in the list of presbyters, and entrusted to teach the people of God, he showed immediately in his introductions what sort of man he would be throughout his entire life. For he did not emulate the noble and fruitful character of discourse, able to cultivate the souls of men; but inclined towards what pleases the crowd, and becoming a hunter of applause that dissolves into air, if anyone ever was, he summoned the vulgar and unstable multitude to a fondness for himself, clothed in a grey cloak, walking with a sullen look, avoiding the noises of the marketplace, seeking to seem continent by the paleness of his body, at home for the most part devoting himself to books, and communing with himself in quiet. By such posturing and pretense enticing the many, he advanced far in age, pursuing the appearance of being a Christian rather than the reality, and preferring his own glory to that of Christ. "But since, according to what was said by the Lord, 'There is nothing hidden that will not be known, nor secret that will not come to light,' " and "Good works are manifest, and those that are otherwise cannot be hidden,"

34

καθίσαι προσέταξε τὸν Ἀδέλφιον· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἡγεῖτο τῶν ἐγκαλουμένων τὴν αἵρεσιν, ἀνὴρ πρε σβύτης καὶ τυμβογέρων, καὶ παρ' αὐτὰς λοιπὸν ὢν τοῦ θανάτου τὰς πύλας. Πρὸς τοῦτον ὁ τρισμα κάριος ἔφη Φλαβιανὸς, ἀγνοεῖν τοὺς κατηγόρους, ἅτε δὴ παχυτέρους, τὴν πνευματικὴν πολιτείαν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ, φησὶν, οἱ γεγηρακότες τῷ χρόνῳ τὴν γνῶσιν ταύτην εἰσεδεξάμεθα. Ἀλλ' εἰπέ μοι, ἔφη, φιλαλή θως, τίνα ἐστὶ τὰ λεγόμενα. Οὕτω καταθελχθεὶς ὁ πρεσβύτης, καὶ κοινωνὸν τῶν δογμάτων εὑρηκέναι νομίσας, τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ τὴν κατηγορίαν ἐκράτυνε. Ταῦτα τοίνυν μεμαθηκὼς ὁ θεῖος ἀνὴρ, τῶν τῆς ἑῴας αὐτοὺς ὁρίων ἐξήλασε. Καὶ ἄλλα δὲ πολλὰ φρενίτιδος ἔργα τολμῶσι. Καὶ γὰρ ἐξαπίνης πηδῶ σι, καὶ δαίμονας ὑπερπεπηδηκέναι νεανιεύονται· καὶ τοῖς δακτύλοις τὸ τῆς τοξείας ἐπιτελοῦσι σχῆ μα, τοὺς δαίμονας τοξεύειν ἰσχυριζόμενοι. Καὶ ἕτε ρα ἄττα δρῶσι παραπλησίως παραπληξίας μεστὰ, διὸ δὴ καὶ τῶν Ἐνθουσιαστῶν ἐσχήκασιν ὄνομα Ταύτης ἡγήσατο τῆς αἱρέσεως Σάββας, καὶ Ἀδέλφιος, καὶ ∆αώδης, καὶ Συμεώνης, καὶ Ἑρμᾶς, καὶ ἄλλοι τινές. Ἔγραψε δὲ κατὰ τούτων ἐπιστολὰς, φωρά σας τὴν αἵρεσιν, ὁ πανεύφημος Λητόϊος, ὁ τῆς Μελιτινῆς ἐπίσκοπος. Ὁ δὲ πάντων ἄριστος Ἀμφιλό-χιος, ὁ τοῦ Ἰκονίου τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἰθύνας, ἀκριβέστερον τὴν αἵρεσιν ἐστηλίτευσε, τοῖς ὑπ' ἐκείνου πραχθεῖσιν ὑπομνήμασιν ἐντεθεικὼς αὐτῶν τὰς φωνὰς, ἐναργῶς δηλούσας τοῦ δόγματος τὴν διαφο ράν. ΙΒʹ. -Περὶ Νεστορίου. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦ κόσμου κατὰ μικρὸν ὑποῤ ῥέοντος, καὶ πρὸς τὴν τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς ἐπειγομένου λύσιν, πᾶς τις ἑαυτὸν ἀξιόχρεων εἶναι τῆς εὐσεβείας διδάσκαλον ᾤετο, διὰ τὸν ἐξ ἀμαθίας τῦφον οὐδενὸς μανθάνειν ἀνεχομένου, οὐκέτι λοιπὸν ὁ ἀνθρωποκτό νος δαίμων, ὁ τοῦ ψεύδους πατὴρ, ὁ τῶν ζιζανίων σπορεὺς, τοῖς ἔξωθεν καὶ φανερῶς πολεμίοις κατὰ 83.433 τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ὡπλίζετο· ἀλλ' εὑρὼν ὄργανον πᾶσαν, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἀθρόως αὐτοῦ τὴν τέχνην ὑποδεχόμενον, ἐν τῷ τῆς ὀρθοδοξίας προσχήματι, τὴν ἄρνησιν τῆς θεότητος ὁμοῦ καὶ φιλανθρωπίας τοῦ Μονογε νοῦς παρεισάγει, τὸ ἁπλοῦν καὶ ἀτεχνολόγητον τῆς πίστεως ἡμῶν Ἑλληνικοῖς συνταράττων σοφίσμασι. Νεστόριον που πάντως ἀκούετε· καὶ γὰρ ἐπίσημος ὁ ἀνήρ. Οὗτος ἐκ τῆς Γερμανικέων πολίχνης ὁρμώμενος, οὐκ οἶδα ποταποῖς τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐντεθραμ μένος ἐπιτηδεύμασιν, ἄλλην ἐξ ἄλλης ἀμείβων χώ ραν, καθάπερ Αἰγυπτιακή τις μάστιξ, τῇ μεγάλῃ τῶν Ἀντιοχέων ἐνέσκηψε πόλει. Ἐν ταύτῃ λόγων ἐλευθερίων μετρίως μετεσχηκὼς, φωνήν τε ὅτι καλ λίστην καὶ μεγίστην ἀσκήσας, τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ προϊὼν εἰσεφθάρη, καὶ τῷ καταλόγῳ τῶν πρε σβυτέρων ἐναρίθμιος γεγονὼς, τόν τε τοῦ Θεοῦ λαὸν διδάσκειν πεπιστευμένος, ἔδειξεν εὐθὺς ἐν προοι μίοις, οἷος παρὰ πάντα τὸν βίον γενήσεται. Οὐ γὰρ τὸν εὐγενῆ καὶ γόνιμον, καὶ γεωργῆσαι ψυχὰς ἀν θρώπων δυνάμενον, ἐζήλωσε χαρακτῆρα τῶν λόγων· ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ δημοτερπὲς ἀποκλίνας, καὶ τῶν εἰς ἀέρα λυομένων κρότων θηρευτὴς, εἰ καί τις ἄλλος, γενόμενος, τὸ συρφετῶδες καὶ ἀστάθμητον πλῆθος πρὸς τὸν οἰκεῖον ἐξεκαλέσατο πόθον, φαιὸν περιβε βλημένος ἱμάτιον, ἐστυγνακὼς βαδίζων, τοὺς ἀγο ραίους ἐκκλίνων θορύβους, ὠχρότητι σώματος δο κεῖν ἐγκρατὴς εἶναι θηρώμενος, οἴκοι τὰ πολλὰ βι βλίοις προσανέχων, καὶ καθ' ἡσυχίαν ἑαυτῷ συγγι νόμενος. Τοιούτοις σχήμασί τε καὶ πλάσμασι τοὺς πολλοὺς δελεάζων, μέχρι πόῤῥω προῆλθε τῆς ἡλι κίας, τὸ δοκεῖν Χριστιανὸς εἶναι πρὸ τοῦ εἶναι διώ κων, καὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ δόξης τὴν ἑαυτοῦ προτι μῶν. "Ἐπεὶ δὲ, κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον τῷ ∆εσπότῃ, "Οὐδὲν κρυπτὸν ὃ οὐ γνωσθήσεται, οὐδὲ ἀπό κρυφον ὃ οὐ μὴ εἰς φανερὸν ἔλθῃ," καὶ "Τὰ καλὰ ἔργα πρόδηλά ἐστι, καὶ τὰ ἄλλως ἔχοντα κρυβῆναι οὐ δύναται,"