36

having repented, they were cast out. But again, they were not harmed by the exile, but were also greatly benefited and this happened for the salvation of us all. For our Master, having come down from above, by His own death loosed the death against us, completely abolishing the condemnation from the transgression of our forefather and through holy baptism regenerating and recreating and completely delivering us from this, He places us in this world completely free and not tyrannically energized by the enemy, but honoring us with the free will from the beginning, He rather gives strength against him, so that those who wish may easily conquer him beyond all the saints before the coming of Christ, and when they die they are not brought down to hades like them, but into heaven and into the delight and enjoyment there, now moderately, but after the resurrection from the dead they are deemed worthy to enjoy wholly and completely the eternal joy.

Let those therefore who are willing not make excuses, nor say that we are entirely energized by Adam's transgression and drawn down to sin. For those who think and say this consider the coming of our Master and God to have happened uselessly and in vain, which saying is of heretics and not of the faithful. For why did He come down or for what reason did He taste death, if not entirely to loose the condemnation from sin and to free our race from the slavery and energy of the opposing enemy? (101) For this is truly free will, not to be dominated by another in any way whatsoever. For we from the one who sinned were sinners, from the one who transgressed, transgressors, from the slave of sin we ourselves also became slaves of sin, from the one who was cursed and dead, cursed and dead, from the one who was energized by the counsel of the evil one and enslaved to him and who lost his free will, as his children we were energized and tyrannically dominated and mastered. But God, having come down, was incarnate and was born a man just as we are, without sin, and He loosed sin, having sanctified both conception and birth and having been brought up little by little He blessed every age; and having become a perfect man, He then began His preaching, teaching us not to rush into anything and not to anticipate the grey-haired in understanding and virtue, especially the young who are not men in prudence. He undertook the things for your sake and having kept all the commandments of His own God and Father, He loosed the transgression and freed the transgressors from the condemnation. He became a slave, having taken on the form of a slave, and brought us slaves back to the master's dignity, restoring us as masters over the former tyrant—and the saints bear witness, who even after death drive him and his ministers away as weak. He became a curse by being crucified—"For cursed," it says, "is everyone who hangs on a tree," (102) and He loosed the whole curse of Adam. He died and by His own death He destroyed death. He rose and made disappear the power and energy of the enemy, who through death and sin had authority over us. For by casting into the death-bearing virus and poison of sin the ineffable life-giving energy of His Divinity and of His flesh, He redeemed our whole race entirely from the energy of the enemy, and through holy baptism and the communion of His undefiled mysteries, of His body and His precious blood, cleansing and life-giving us, He restores us holy and sinless, but also immediately allows us to be honored with free will, so that we might be seen serving the Master not by force but by choice. And just as in the beginning Adam was in paradise, free and outside of sin and violence, but by his free will he obeyed the enemy and being deceived transgressed the commandment of God, so also we, being reborn from holy baptism, are released from slavery and become possessed of free will,

36

μετανοήσαντες, ἐξεβλήθησαν. Οὐδέν δέ πάλιν ἐκ τῆς ἐξορίας ἐβλάβησαν, ἀλλά καί τά μέγιστα ὠφελήθησαν καί εἰς σωτηρίαν ἡμῶν πάντων τοῦτο ἐγένετο. Κατελθών γάρ ἄνωθεν ὁ ∆εσπότης ἡμῶν τῷ ἰδίῳ θανάτῳ τόν καθ᾿ ἡμῶν ἔλυσε θάνατον, τό ἐκ τῆς τοῦ προπάτορος παραβάσεως κατάκριμα παντελῶς ἀνελών καί διά τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος ἀναγεννῶν καί ἀναπλάττων καί ἀπαλλάττων ταύτης τελείως ἡμᾶς, τίθησιν ἐν τῷδε τῷ κόσμῳ ἐλευθέρους πάντῃ καί μή ἐνεργουμένους τυραννικῶς ὑπό τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, ἀλλά τῷ ἐξ ἀρχῆς αὐτεξουσίῳ τιμῶν ἡμᾶς, ἰσχύν μᾶλλον δίδωσι κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ, ἵνα οἱ βουλόμενοι νικῶσιν αὐτόν εὐχερῶς ὑπέρ πάντας τούς πρό τῆς Χριστοῦ παρουσίας ἁγίους, ἀποθνῄσκοντες δέ μή καθάπερ ἐκεῖνοι καί οὗτοι εἰς τόν ᾅδην καταβιβάζωνται, ἀλλ᾿ εἰς τόν οὐρανόν καί εἰς τήν ἐκεῖσε τρυφήν καί ἀπόλαυσιν, νῦν μέν μετρίως, μετά δέ τήν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐξανάστασιν ὅλης ὅλως ἐπαπολαύειν καταξιῶνται τῆς αἰωνίου χαρᾶς.

Οἱ οὖν βουλόμενοι προφάσεις μή προφασίζωνται, μηδέ λεγέτωσαν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἡμᾶς παραβάσεως ὅλως ἐνεργεῖσθαι καί πρός τήν ἁμαρτίαν καθέλκεσθαι. Οἱ γάρ τοῦτο ἐννοοῦντες καί λέγοντες τήν τοῦ ∆εσπότου ἡμῶν καί Θεοῦ παρουσίαν ἀνωφελῶς γεγενῆσθαι καί διακενῶς νομίζουσιν, ὅπερ αἱρετικῶν καί οὐ πιστῶν ἐστι τό λεγόμενον. ∆ιά τί γάρ κατῆλθεν ἤ τίνος ἕνεκα θανάτου ἐγεύσατο, εἰ μή ὅτι πάντως διά τό λῦσαι τό ἐκ τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατάκριμα καί ἐλευθερῶσαι τό γένος ἡμῶν ἀπό τῆς δουλείας καί ἐνεργείας τοῦ ἀντικειμένου ἐχθροῦ; (101) Τοῦτο γάρ ἡ ὄντως αὐτεξουσιότης, τό μή ὑφ᾿ ἑτέρου τινός τῷ οἱῳνδήποτε τρόπῳ δεσπόζεσθαι. Ἡμεῖς μέν γάρ ἀπό τοῦ ἁμαρτήσαντος ἦμεν ἁμαρτωλοί, ἀπό τοῦ παραβάντος παραβάται, ἀπό τοῦ δούλου τῆς ἁμαρτίας δοῦλοι καί αὐτοί γενόμενοι ἁμαρτίας, ἀπό τοῦ κεκατηραμένου καί νεκροῦ κατάρατοι καί νεκροί, ἀπό τοῦ τῇ συμβουλίᾳ ἐνεργηθέντος τοῦ πονηροῦ καί δουλωθέντος αὐτῷ καί τό αὐτεξούσιον ἀπολέσαντος, ὡς τέκνα αὐτοῦ ἐνεργούμενοι καί καταδυναστευόμενοι τυραννικῶς ἐδεσποζόμεθα. Ὁ δέ Θεός κατελθών ἐσαρκώθη καί ἐγεννήθη καθώς καί ἡμεῖς ἄνθρωπος, χωρίς ἁμαρτίας, καί ἔλυσε τήν ἁμαρτίαν, σύλληψίν τε καί γέννησιν ἁγιάσας καί ἀνατραφείς κατά μικρόν πᾶσαν ἡλικίαν εὐλόγησε· τέλειος δέ ἀνήρ γεγονώς τότε ἤρξατο τοῦ κηρύγματος, διδάσκων ἡμᾶς μή ἔν τινι προπηδᾶν καί προλαμβάνειν τούς πολιούς ἐν συνέσει καί ἀρετῇ, οἱ νέοι μάλιστα καί οὐκ ἄνδρες τήν φρόνησιν. Ἀνεδέξατο τά ὑπέρ ὑμῶν καί φυλάξας πάσας τάς ἐντολάς τοῦ ἰδίου Θεοῦ καί Πατρός, τήν παράβασιν ἔλυσε καί τούς παραβάτας τοῦ κατακρίματος ἠλευθέρωσε. ∆οῦλος ἐγένετο, μορφήν ἀναλαβόμενος δούλου, καί τούς δούλους ἡμᾶς εἰς τό δεσποτικόν ἀξίωμα ἐπανήγαγε, τοῦ πρῴην τυράννου δεσπότας ἀποκαταστήσας ἡμᾶς - καί μαρτυροῦσιν οἱ ἅγιοι οἱ καί μετά θάνατον ὡς ἀσθενῆ αὐτόν καί τούς αὐτοῦ ὑπουργούς ἀπελαύνοντες. Κατάρα ἐγένετο σταυρωθείς - "Ἐπικατάρατος γάρ, φησί, πᾶς ὁ ἐπί ξύλου κρεμάμενος", (102) καί ὅλην τήν κατάραν ἔλυσε τοῦ Ἀδάμ. Ἀπέθανε καί τῷ ἑαυτοῦ θανάτῳ ἀνεῖλε τόν θάνατον. Ἀνέστη καί τήν δύναμιν καί ἐνέργειαν ἠφάνισε τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, τοῦ διά θανάτου καί τῆς ἁμαρτίας τήν ἐξουσίαν ἔχοντος καθ᾿ ἡμῶν. Ἐμβαλών γάρ ἐν τῷ θανατηφόρῳ ἰῷ καί φαρμάκῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τήν ἄρρητον τῆς Θεότητος αὐτοῦ καί τῆς σαρκός ζωοποιόν ἐνέργειαν, ὅλως ὅλον τό γένος ἡμῶν τῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ ἐχθροῦ ἐλυτρώσατο, διά δέ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσμτος καί τῆς κοινωνίας τῶν ἀχράντων αὐτοῦ μυστηρίων, τοῦ σώματος καί τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ τοῦ τιμίου, ἀποκαθαίρων ἡμᾶς καί ζωοποιῶν, ἁγίους καί ἀναμαρτήτους ἀποκαθίστησιν, ἀλλά καί εὐθύς τῷ αὐτεξουσίῳ τιμᾶσθαι ἀφίησιν, ἵνα μή βίᾳ ἀλλά προαιρέσει φανῶμεν τῷ ∆εσπότῃ δουλεύοντες. Καί ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἦν ὁ Ἀδάμ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ ἐλεύθερος καί ἁμαρτίας καί βίας ἐκτός, τῷ αὐτεξουσίῳ δέ θελήματι ὑπήκουσε τῷ ἐχθρῷ καί ἀπατηθείς παρέβη τήν ἐντολήν τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὕτω καί ἡμεῖς ἐκ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος ἀναγεννώμενοι τῆς δουλείας ἀπολυόμεθα καί γινόμεθα αὐτεξούσιοι,