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demons and their ruler, and says, Tread upon snakes and scorpions. He does not say, Let us make man in our image and after our likeness; but what? He gives them to become sons of God, who were born not of blood, but of God, it says. Then, so that you might not listen to the serpent, he immediately teaches you to say: I renounce you; instead of, Whatever you say, I will not listen to you. Then, so that he may not take you by other means, he says, and your pomp and your worship and your angels. He set him no longer to guard paradise, but to be a citizen in heaven. For immediately upon ascending, he utters these words: Our Father who art in heaven, thy will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth. The child does not fall upon your sight, you see no tree nor spring, but you immediately embrace the Master himself, you are mixed with the body, you are blended with the body that lies above, where the devil cannot approach. There is no woman, that he might approach and deceive her as the weaker; For there is not, it says, female, nor male. Unless you go down to him, he will not be able to set foot where you are; for you are in heaven, and heaven is inaccessible to the devil. It does not have a tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but only the tree of life. No longer is woman from your side, but we are all one from the side of Christ. For if those anointed by men suffer nothing from snakes, neither will you 62.343 suffer anything, as long as you are anointed, so that you may be able to hold the snake and choke it, to tread upon snakes and scorpions. But just as the gifts are great, so also is our punishment great; it is not possible for one cast out of paradise to dwell opposite paradise, nor to return to where we fell from. But what after these things? Gehenna, and the undying worm. But may none of us become liable to this punishment; 62.344 but living virtuously, let us strive to do the things that seem good to him; let us please God, that we may be able both to be delivered from torment, and to attain to the eternal good things, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Spirit be glory, dominion, honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY VII. Therefore let no one judge you in food or in drink, or in respect of a festival or

a new moon or of sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Let no one disqualify you, delighting in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the

increase of God. 1. First having spoken enigmatically, See to it that no one takes you captive according to the tradition of men, and again above, And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words; and having preoccupied the soul and made it concerned, then having inserted the benefits, and having done this more grandly, he then brings on the reproof afterward, and says: Therefore let no one judge you in food, or in drink, or in respect of a festival or a new moon or of sabbaths. Do you see how he pulls them down? If you have obtained such things, he says, why do you make yourselves liable to small things? And he makes it contemptible by saying, or in respect of a festival; for they did not indeed keep all the former things. Or of a new moon or of sabbaths. He did not say, Therefore do not observe, but, Let no one judge you. He showed them

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δαίμονας καὶ τὸν ἀρχηγὸν αὐτῶν, καὶ λέγει, Πατεῖτε ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων. Οὐ λέγει, Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν· ἀλλὰ τί; ∆ίδωσιν αὐτοῖς υἱοῖς Θεοῦ γενέσθαι, οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων, ἀλλ' ἐκ Θεοῦ, φησὶν, ἐγεννήθησαν. Εἶτα ἵνα μὴ τοῦ ὄφεως ἀκούσῃς, εὐθέως διδάσκῃ λέγειν· Ἀποτάσσομαί σοι· ἀντὶ τοῦ, Ὅπερ ἂν εἴπῃς, οὐκ ἀκούσομαί σου. Εἶτα ἵνα μὴ δι' ἑτέρων σε ἕλῃ, φησὶ, καὶ τῇ πομπῇ σου καὶ τῇ λατρείᾳ σου καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις σου. Ἔθετο αὐτὸν οὐκέτι φυλάσσειν τὸν παράδεισον, ἀλλὰ πολιτεύεσθαι ἐν οὐρανῷ. Εὐθέως γὰρ ἀνελθὼν, ταῦτα φθέγγεται τὰ ῥήματα· Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου, ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Οὐκ ἐπ' ὄψιν πίπτει τὸ παιδίον, οὐ ξύλον ὁρᾷς οὐδὲ πηγὴν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν εὐθέως περιλαμβάνεις τὸν ∆εσπότην, ἀνακεράννυσαι τῷ σώματι, ἀναφύρῃ τῷ σώματι τῷ ἄνω κειμένῳ, ἔνθα προσελθεῖν οὐκ ἔνι τῷ διαβόλῳ. Οὐκ ἔστι γυνὴ, ἵνα προσέλθῃ, καὶ ὡς ἀσθενεστέραν ἀπατήσῃ· Οὐκ ἔστι γὰρ, φησὶ, θῆλυ, οὐδὲ ἄρσεν. Ἂν μὴ σὺ κατέλθῃς πρὸς αὐτὸν, οὐ δυνήσεται ἐπιβῆναι ἔνθα εἶ· ἐν γὰρ τῷ οὐρανῷ εἶ, ὁ δὲ οὐρανὸς ἄβατος τῷ διαβόλῳ. Οὐκ ἔχει ξύλον γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ, ἀλλὰ τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς μόνον. Οὐκέτι ἀπὸ τῆς πλευρᾶς σου γυνὴ, ἀλλὰ πάντες ἕν ἐσμεν ἀπὸ τῆς πλευρᾶς τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Εἰ γὰρ οἱ ἠλειμμένοι ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων, οὐδὲν πάσχουσιν ὑπὸ ὄφεων, οὐδὲ σὺ 62.343 πείσῃ τι, ἕως ἂν ᾖς ἠλειμμένος, ἵνα δυνηθῇς κατέχειν τὸν ὄφιν καὶ ἀποπνίγειν, πατεῖν ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ μεγάλα τὰ δῶρα, οὕτω μεγάλη ἡμῖν καὶ ἡ τιμωρία· οὐκ ἔνι ἐκπεσόντα τοῦ παραδείσου ἀπέναντι οἰκῆσαι τοῦ παραδείσου, οὐδὲ ἐπανελθεῖν ὅθεν ἐξεπέσομεν. Ἀλλὰ τί μετὰ ταῦτα; Γέεννα, καὶ σκώληξ ἀτελεύτητος. Ἀλλὰ μὴ γένοιτό τινα ἡμῶν ὑπεύθυνον γενέσθαι ταύτῃ τῇ τιμωρίᾳ· 62.344 ἀλλ' ἐναρέτως ζῶντες, σπουδάσωμεν τὰ αὐτῷ δοκοῦντα διαπράττεσθαι· εὐαρεστήσωμεν τῷ Θεῷ, ἵνα δυνηθῶμεν καὶ τῆς κολάσεως ἀπαλλαγῆναι, καὶ τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν ἐπιτυχεῖν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μεθ' οὗ τῷ Πατρὶ ἅμα τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι δόξα, κράτος, τιμὴ, νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ, καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Ζʹ. Μὴ οὖν τις ὑμᾶς κρινέτω ἐν βρώσει ἢ ἐν πόσει, ἢ ἐν μέρει ἑορτῆς ἢ

νουμηνίας ἢ σαβ βάτων, ἅ ἐστι σκιὰ τῶν μελλόντων, τὸ δὲ σῶμα Χριστοῦ. Μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς καταβραβευέτω θέλων ἐν ταπεινοφροσύνῃ καὶ θρησκείᾳ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἃ μὴ ἑώρακεν ἐμβατεύων, εἰκῆ φυ σιούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ νοὸς τῆς σαρκὸς αὑτοῦ, καὶ οὐ κρατῶν τὴν κεφαλὴν, ἐξ οὗ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα διὰ τῶν ἁφῶν καὶ συνδέσμων ἐπιχορη γούμενον καὶ συμβιβαζόμενον, αὔξει τὴν

αὔξη σιν τοῦ Θεοῦ. αʹ. Πρῶτον αἰνιγματωδῶς εἰπὼν, Βλέπετε μή τις ὑμᾶς ἔσται ὁ συλαγωγῶν κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ πάλιν ἀνωτέρω, Τοῦτο δὲ λέγω, ἵνα μή τις ὑμᾶς παραλογίζηται ἐν πιθανολογίᾳ· καὶ προκαταλαβὼν τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ μεμεριμνημένην ἐργασάμενος, εἶτα παρενθεὶς τὰς εὐεργεσίας, καὶ μειζόνως τοῦτο ποιήσας, τότε ἐπάγει τὸν ἔλεγχον ὕστερον, καί φησι· Μὴ οὖν τις ὑμᾶς κρινέτω ἐν βρώσει, ἢ ἐν πόσει, ἢ ἐν μέρει ἑορτῆς ἣ νεομηνίας ἢ σαββάτων. Ὁρᾷς πῶς αὐτὰ καθαιρεῖ; Εἰ τοιούτων τετυχήκατε, φησὶ, τί τοῖς μικροῖς ὑπευθύνους ἑαυτοὺς ποιεῖτε; Καὶ ἐξευτελίζει λέγων, Ἢ ἐν μέρει ἑορτῆς· οὐ γὰρ δὴ πάντα κατεῖχον τὰ πρότερα. Ἢ νουμηνίας ἢ σαββάτων. Οὐκ εἶπε, Μὴ τοίνυν φυλάττετε, ἀλλὰ, Μή τις ὑμᾶς κρινέτω. Ἔδειξεν αὐτοὺς