[Whose Oblations are to Be Received, and Whose Not to Be Received.]

VI. Now the bishop ought to know whose oblations he ought to receive, and whose he ought not. For he is to avoid corrupt dealers, and not receive their gifts. “For, a corrupt dealer shall not be justified from sin.”  11  Ecclus. xxvi. 29 For of them it was that Isaiah reproached Israel, and said, “Thy corrupt dealers mingle wine with water.”  12  Isa. i. 22 He is also to avoid fornicators, for “thou shall not offer the hire of an harlot to the Lord.”  13  Deut. xxiii. 18. He is also to avoid extortioners, and such as covet other men’s goods, and adulterers; for the sacrifices of such as these are abominable with God. Also those that oppress the widow and overbear the orphan, and fill prisons with the innocent, and abuse their own servants wickedly, I mean with stripes, and hunger, and hard service, nay, destroy whole cities; do thou, O bishop, avoid such as these, and their odious oblations. Thou shalt also refuse rogues, and such pleaders that plead on the side of injustice, and idol-makers, and thieves, and unjust publicans, and those that deceive by false balances and deceitful measures, and a soldier who is a false accuser and not content with his wages, but does violence to the needy, a murderer, a cut-throat, and an unjust judge, a subverter of causes, him that lies in wait for men, a worker of abominable wickedness, a drunkard, a blasphemer, a sodomite, an usurer, and every one that is wicked and opposes the will of God. For the Scripture says that all such as these are abominable with God. For those that receive from such persons, and thereby support the widows and orphans, shall be obnoxious to the judgment-seat of God; as Adonias the prophet, in the book of Kings, when he disobeyed God, and both “eat bread and drank water in the place which the Lord had forbid him,”  14  1 Kings xiii. because of the impiety of Jeroboam, was slain by a lion. For the bread which is distributed to the widows from labour is better, though it be short and little, than that from injustice and false accusation, though it be much and fine. For the Scripture says: “Better is a little to the righteous, than much riches of the sinners.”  15  Ps. xxxvii. 16. Now, although a widow, who eats and is filled from the impious, pray for them, she shall not be heard. For God, who knows the heart, with judgment has declared concerning the impious, saying, “If Moses and Samuel stand before my face in their behalf, I will not hear them;”  16  Jer. xv. 1. and, “Pray thou not for this people, and do not ask mercy for them, and do not intercede with me for them, for I will not hear thee.”  17  Jer. vii. 16.

[6] Χρὴ δὲ τὸν ἐπίσκοπον εἰδέναι, τίνων ὀφείλει δέχεσθαι καρποφορίας καὶ τίνων οὐκ ὀφείλει. Φυλακτέοι γὰρ αὐτῷ πρὸς δόσιν κάπηλοι: «Οὐ δικαιωθήσεται γὰρ κάπηλος ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας.» Περὶ αὐτῶν γάρ που καὶ Ἡσαΐας ὀνειδίζων τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἔλεγεν: «Οἱ κάπηλοί σου μίσγουσιν τὸν οἶνον ὕδατι.» Φευκτέοι δ' αὐτῷ καὶ πόρνοι. «Οὐ προσοίσεις γὰρ τῷ κυρίῳ μίσθωμα πόρνης.» Καὶ ἅρπαγες καὶ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἐπιθυμηταὶ καὶ μοιχοί, βδελυκταὶ γὰρ αἱ τούτων θυσίαι τῷ Θεῷ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἐκθλίβοντες χήραν καὶ ὀρφανὸν καταδυναστεύοντες καὶ τὰς φυλακὰς πληροῦντες ἀναιτίων ἢ καὶ τοῖς ἑαυτῶν οἰκέταις πονηρῶς χρώμενοι, πληγαῖς φημι καὶ λιμῷ καὶ κακοδουλίᾳ, ἢ καὶ πόλεις ὅλας λυμαινόμενοι φευκτέοι ἔστωσάν σοι, ὦ ἐπίσκοπε, καὶ αἱ τούτων προσφοραὶ μυσαραί. Παραιτήσῃ δὲ καὶ ῥᾳδιουργοὺς καὶ ῥήτορας ἀδικίᾳ συναγωνιζομένους καὶ εἰδωλοποιοὺς καὶ κλέπτας καὶ τελώνας ἀδίκους καὶ ζυγοκρούστας καὶ δολομέτρας, καὶ στρατιώτην συκοφάντην, μὴ ἀρκούμενον τοῖς ὀψωνίοις, ἀλλὰ τοὺς πένητας διασείοντα, φονέα τε καὶ δήμιον καὶ δικαστὴν παράνομον, πραγμάτων ἀνατροπέα, ἀνθρώπων ἐπίβουλον, μιαρῶν ἐργάτην, μέθυσον, βλάσφημον, κίναιδον, τοκογλύφον, καὶ παντὸς ἑτέρου πονηροῦ καὶ τῇ γνώμῃ τοῦ Θεοῦ διαμαχομένου, ὅτι λέγει ἡ γραφὴ βδελυκτοὺς εἶναι παρὰ Θεῷ πάντας τοὺς τοιούτους. Οἱ γὰρ παρὰ τοιούτων δεχόμενοι καὶ τρέφοντες χήρας καὶ ὀρφανοὺς ὑπεύθυνοι τῷ κριτηρίῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ γενήσονται, ὥσπερ καὶ Ἀδωνίας ὁ ἐν ταῖς Βασιλείοις προφήτης παρακούσας Θεοῦ καὶ φαγὼν ἄρτον καὶ πιὼν ὕδωρ ἐν τῷ τόπῳ ᾧ ἀπεῖπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Κύριος διὰ τὴν τοῦ Ἱεροβοὰμ ἀσέβειαν, καὶ ὑπὸ λέοντος ἀναιρεθείς. Ὁ γὰρ ἐκ κόπου διακονούμενος ἄρτος χήραις γνησίως δίκαιος μᾶλλον, κἂν ᾖ βραχὺς καὶ ὀλίγος, ἢ ὁ ἐκ συκοφαντίας καὶ ἐξ ἀδικίας, κἂν ᾖ πολὺς καὶ ἐξησκημένος: λέγει γὰρ ἡ γραφή: «Κρεῖσσον ὀλίγον τῷ δικαίῳ ὑπὲρ πλοῦτον ἁμαρτωλῶν πολύν.» Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἀσεβῶν φαγοῦσα χήρα καὶ ἐμπλησθεῖσα προσεύξεται ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, οὐκ εἰσακουσθήσεται, ὅτι ὁ καρδιογνώστης Θεὸς μετὰ κρίσεως ἀπεφήνατο περὶ τῶν ἀσεβῶν λέγων: «Ἐὰν στῇ Μωϋσῆς καὶ Σαμουὴλ πρὸ προσώπου μου ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, οὐκ εἰσακούσομαι αὐτῶν καὶ σὺ μὴ προσεύχου περὶ τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου καὶ μὴ ἀξίου ἐλεηθῆναι αὐτοὺς καὶ μὴ προσέλθῃς μοι περὶ αὐτῶν, ὅτι οὐκ εἰσακούσομαί σου.» Οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἐν ἁμαρτίαις γενόμενοι καὶ μὴ μεταγνόντες οὐ μόνον οὐκ εἰσακουσθήσονται προσευχόμενοι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν Θεὸν παροξυνοῦσιν ὑπομιμνήσκοντες αὐτὸν τῆς ἑαυτῶν μοχθηρίας.