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will declare; which may you keep and never cease to proclaim, our most divine and admirable fathers. For what reason did we send again our brother and the venerator of your footsteps, Epiphanius? So that he himself might report back about our affairs, that by your holy prayers all is well, as we sinners rejoice and are glad in the persecution and the prisons, so that we dare to say, it has been granted to us not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for His sake; in order that he might move you to more fervent prayer both for the manliness of us who are weak and for the common good, for which is our discourse and petition to you, the most holy, now being made for the third time, not that we might be released from prison, since we do not even reckon it a disgrace, but the greatest glory and beyond our own unworthiness, but so that it may have a beneficial result in the community, even though we are of the least. For everywhere, says the Theologian, one must overlook one's own affairs for the good of the many. And it would be beneficial, as is our aim and desire, for a synodical censure through the chief of the apostles, just as from above and from the beginning for those who held a council against the gospel of Christ and anathematized those who hold fast to it and did not accept adultery and adulterous union and complicity in adultery as an "economy" of the saints, as the Moechians have dogmatized, calling the saints lawless in this; because no saint has cast his lot with an adulterer, nor indeed has he crowned adulterers or given them a share in the divine gifts, since they have forbidden to share with them even roof and fire, even if they were emperors. And because they have also insulted the divine itself with the crowning mysteries, bringing the anathema upon it through the anathematization of those who hold fast to its law. But if this is not so, for the rest we pray for the strength of your prayers, the validity of the laws of love, the power of your replies, which may you in any case be persuaded to make, comforting the fainthearted and strengthening the weak, our most holy and longed-for and ever-venerable fathers. 36 {1To Euprepianus and those with him}1 I am hopeful, beloved children, concerning your peaceful and God-ordered conduct. Therefore I shall turn my discourse to what is urgent. And what is this? When we uncover their wicked dogmas and point out the reasons for which they have anathematized us along with the others, they are proven to be altogether not simply heretics in some way, but apostates from the gospel of God and anathematizers of the saints and destroyers of the canons. First, by setting themselves against the old and new. You shall not commit adultery, the law; you shall not take the name of God in vain; let there be one law for the Jew and for the proselyte. Again the gospel, that is Christ, "You have heard," he says, "that it was said to the men of old, '4You shall not commit adultery'5;" but I say to you not even to look at a woman to lust after her; and, he who breaks one of the least of these commandments will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, that is, he will be cast into the fire, as the fathers interpret. But they (O the terrible thing to hear) adultery, which is proclaimed by law and grace down to a lustful glance, and the breaking of not the least, but one might say the first and greatest commandment in practice, and in addition to these the taking of the name of God not in vain, but in such an unlawful and wicked act, I mean an adulterous union, the taking of the name of God and participation in the mysteries of Christ and the crowning act of warfare against God by the adulterous devil and his servant, they have called an "economy" of God, both good and salvific for the church. Let us stop our ears lest we be melted by the blasphemy, O brothers. And their justification is that they say that in the case of emperors it is necessary to overlook the evangelical laws. Behold another forerunner of antichrist. And where is "there shall be one law"? And where is "judgment is severe on those in high places"? And where is "God the person of a man"

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ἀναρρήσει· ἣν καὶ φυλάττοιτε καὶ κηρύσσειν οὐ λήγοιτε, οἱ θειότατοι καὶ ἀξιάγαστοι ἡμῶν πατέρες. Οὗ δὲ χάριν ἀπεστείλαμεν πάλιν τὸν ἀδελφὸν καὶ προσκυνητὴν τῶν ἰχνῶν σου Ἐπιφάνιον; ἵν' ἀνταναγγείλῃ ὁ αὐτὸς τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς, ὡς εὐχαῖς ὑμῶν ἁγίαις εὖ ἔχει, χαιρομένων ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν καὶ θυμηδιώντων ἐν τῷ διωγμῷ καὶ ταῖς φυλακαῖς, ὡς τολμᾶν λέγειν, ἡμῖν ἐχαρίσθη οὐ μόνον εἰς Χριστὸν πιστεύειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ πάσχειν· ἵνα εἰς ὡς ἐκτενεστέραν ὑμᾶς προσευχὴν παρακινήσῃ ὑπέρ τε ἡμῶν τῶν ἀσθενῶν εὐανδρίας καὶ τοῦ κοινῇ συμφέροντος, ὑπὲρ οὗ ὁ λόγος ἡμῖν καὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς τοὺς ἁγιωτάτους δέησις τρὶς ἄρτι γινομένη οὐχ ἵνα ἀφεθῶμεν τῆς φυλακῆς, ὅτι μηδὲ λογιζόμεθα αὐτὴν ἀδοξίαν, ἀλλὰ μέγιστον καὶ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀναξιότητα κλέος, ἀλλ' ὅπως ἕξει τὸ ἐπωφελὲς ἐν τῷ κοινῷ, κἂν τῶν ἐσχάτων ἐσμέν. πανταχοῦ γάρ, φησὶν ὁ Θεολόγος, τὸ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς παρορατέον πρὸς τὸ τῶν πολλῶν συμφέρον. συμφέρον δ' ἂν εἴη, ὡς ὁ ἡμέτερος σκοπὸς καὶ πόθος, ἐπιτιμηθῆναι συνοδικῶς διὰ τοῦ κορυφαιοτάτου ἀποστολικοῦ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄνωθεν καὶ ἐξ ἀρχῆς τοὺς συνεδρεύσαντας κατὰ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ἀναθεματίσαντας τοὺς ἀντεχομένους αὐτοῦ καὶ μὴ τὴν μοιχείαν καὶ μοιχοζευξίαν καὶ μοιχοσυνδρομίαν δεξαμένους ὡς οἰκονομίαν τῶν ἁγίων, καθὰ οἱ μοιχειανοὶ ἐδογμάτισαν, ἀποκαλέσαντες ἐν τούτῳ τοὺς ἁγίους παρανόμους· ὅτι μηδεὶς ἅγιος τὴν μερίδα μετὰ μοιχοῦ ἔθετο, οὐχ ὅτι καὶ μοιχωμένους ἐστεφάνωσε καὶ δώρων τῶν θείων μεταδέδωκεν, ὁπότε οὐδὲ στέγης καὶ πυρὸς μεταδιδόναι αὐτοῖς, κἂν βασιλεῖς εἶεν, διηγορεύκασι. καὶ ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ θεῖον ἐξύβρισαν ταῖς στεφανικαῖς μυσταγωγίαις, ἀνενεγκόντες τὸ ἀνάθεμα ἐπ' αὐτὸ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἀντεχομένων τοῦ νόμου αὐτοῦ ἀναθεματίσεως. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο οὔ, ἡμεῖς τὸ λοιπὸν εὐχόμεθα ὑμῶν τῶν προσευχῶν τὸ σθένος, τῶν τῆς ἀγάπης θεσμῶν τὸ κῦρος, τῶν ἀντιγράφων τὸ κράτος, ὃ πάντως παρακληθείητε ποιῆσαι, παραμυθούμενοι τοὺς ὀλιγοψύχους καὶ ἐπιρρωννύντες τοὺς ἀνάλκιδας, ἁγιώτατοι ἡμῶν καὶ ποθητοὶ καὶ ἀεισέβαστοι πατέρες. 36 {1Εὐπρεπιανῷ καὶ τοῖς σὺν αὐτῷ}1 Εὔελπίς εἰμι, τέκνα ἠγαπημένα, περὶ τῆς εἰρηναίας καὶ θεοτάκτου διαγωγῆς ὑμῶν. διὸ μετελεύσομαι τὸν λόγον ἐπὶ τὸ κατεπεῖγον. τί δὲ τοῦτο; ὅταν ἀνακαλύψωμεν τὰ πονηρὰ αὐτῶν δόγματα καὶ ὑποδείξωμεν τὰς αἰτίας, δι' ἃς ἡμᾶς ἀνεθεμάτισαν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων, παντάπασιν ἀποδείκνυνται οὐχ αἱρετικοὶ ψιλοί πως, ἀλλ' ἀποστάται τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν τε ἁγίων ἀναθεματισταὶ καὶ τῶν κανόνων καταλύται. τὸ πρῶτον, ἀντικαθιστάμενοι παλαιᾶς καὶ νέας. μὴ μοιχεύσῃς, ὁ νόμος· μὴ λήψῃ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ ματαίῳ· εἷς νόμος ἔστω τῷ Ἰουδαίῳ καὶ τῷ προσηλύτῳ. αὖθις τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, ἤτοι ὁ Χριστός, ἠκούσατε, φησίν, ὅτι ἐρρέθη τοῖς ἀρχαίοις "4οὐ μοιχεύσεις"5; ἐγὼ δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν μηδὲ ἐμβλέψαι γυναῖκα πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι αὐτήν· καί, ὁ λύων μίαν τῶν ἐντολῶν τούτων τῶν ἐλαχίστων, οὗτος ἐλάχιστος κληθήσεται ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἤγουν εἰς τὸ πῦρ, ὡς οἱ πατέρες ἑρμνεύουσιν, ἐμβληθήσεται. οἱ δὲ (ὢ τοῦ φοβεροῦ ἀκούσματος) τὴν μοιχείαν τὴν ἐκκήρυκτον νόμου καὶ χάριτος μέχρι καὶ ἐπιθυμίας ἐμβλεμματικῆς τήν τε λύσιν τῆς οὐκ ἐλαχίστης, ἀλλὰ πρώτης εἰπεῖν ἐν τῷ πρακτικῷ καὶ μεγίστης ἐντολῆς, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὴν οὐκ ἐπὶ ματαίῳ λῆψιν τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ ἀθεμίτῳ τηλικαύτῃ πράξει πονηρᾷ, λέγω δὴ μοιχοζευξίᾳ, λῆψιν τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ μετάληψιν τῶν μυστηρίων Χριστοῦ καὶ στεφανικὴν τοῦ μοιχουργοῦ διαβόλου καὶ ὑπηρέτου αὐτοῦ θεομαχίαν, οἰκονομίαν θεοῦ προσηγόρευσαν, ἀγαθήν τε καὶ σωτήριον τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ. Βύσωμεν τὰ ὦτα μή ποτε τακῶμεν τῇ βλασφημίᾳ, ὦ ἀδελφοί. καὶ τὸ δικαίωμα αὐτοῖς, ἐπὶ τῶν βασιλέων φησὶ χρῆναι παραβλέπειν τοὺς εὐαγγελικοὺς νόμους. ἴδε ἄλλη ἀντιχριστικὴ προδρομία. καὶ ποῦ τὸ εἷς νόμος ἔσται; καὶ ποῦ τὸ κρίσις ἀπότομος ἐν τοῖς ὑπερέχουσι; καὶ ποῦ τὸ πρόσωπον ἀνθρώπου θεὸς