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"Lord of hosts." But these, having become utterly frenzied against their own master, seek him who is not and have destroyed him who is, or rather, they have destroyed themselves. 11. And as many other things * in which it is wearisome to speak of their madness. Some of them, pretending not to approach women, defile themselves with their own hands, and they take their own corruption 1.289 into their hands and thus eat it, using a slandered testi1.289mony, that “these hands were sufficient not only for me, but also for those with me,” and again, that “working with your own hands, that you may be able to give to those who have not;” so that I think the Holy Spirit was also moved concerning these things in the apostle Jude, I mean in the catholic epistle written by him—for this is Jude, the one called the brother of James and of the Lord; for the Holy Spirit, through the voice of Jude, showed them being corrupted and corrupting like beasts, as he says that “whatever things they do not know, being ignorant they are caught, but whatever things they know, they are corrupted like irrational animals.” For like dogs and swine they carry out their own corruption; for dogs and swine, and not only they but also other animals are thus corrupted and eat the discharge from their own bodies. And for truly “dreamers, they defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme glorious ones. But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil about the body of Moses, did not bring a word of blasphemy, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’ But these men blaspheme whatever they do not understand naturally,” because they blaspheme the holy of holies which were handed down to us with sanctification, turning them into shamefulness. And these are the things which they dared to say against the apostles, as the blessed Paul also says, “so that some dare to blaspheme us, saying that we should do evil things, that good things may come upon us, whose judgment is just.” How many other testimonies might I bring against the blasphemers? For these who are corrupted by their own hands, and not only so, but also those who approach women, finally, not having taken their fill of frequent intercourse with women, burn for one another, men with men, according to what is written, “receiving in 1.290 themselves the due penalty of their error.” For these, having become utterly destroyed, congratulate one another, as having undertaken the preferable order. But also deceiving the female sex that is persuaded by them, “which is loaded down with sins and led away by various passions,” they say to those deceived by them that so-and-so is a virgin, who for so many years has been corrupted and is being corrupted every day. For lust has no satiety among them, but the more a person among them is a doer of shameful deeds, the more he is praised among them. And they say that those are virgins who have never been in worldly intercourse of marriage according to the nature of custom until the emission of seed, but who are always having intercourse and fornicating, but before the pleasure is completed, they remove their evil-doing corrupter from the union and take the aforesaid shamefulness for food, as in the likeness of the wickedness of Shechem toward Tamar, * but who from virginity have adopted this art of being corrupted, yet not receiving the intercourse and discharge of the corruption. And they blaspheme not only Abraham and Moses and Elijah and the whole choir of the prophets, but also the God who chose them. 12. And myriads of other writings have been fabricated and dared by them. For they say there is a certain book, the Birth of Mary, in which, inserting certain terrible and 1.291 destructive things, they say therein. For from this, he says, Zechariah was killed in the temple, because, he says, he had seen a vision, and from fear, wishing to tell the vision, his mouth was shut. For he saw, he says, in the hour of incense, as he was offering incense, a certain man standing,

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«κύριος στρατιῶν». οὗτοι δὲ κατὰ πάντα τρόπον ἐμμανέντες κατὰ τοῦ αὐτῶν δεσπότου τὸν μὴ ὄντα ζητοῦσι καὶ τὸν ὄντα ἀπολωλέκασι, μᾶλλον δὲ ἑαυτοὺς ἀπώλεσαν. 11. Ἄλλα δὲ ὅσα * ἐν οἷς περικακεῖν ἐστι τὰ τῆς αὐτῶν μανίας λέγειν. τινὲς ἐξ αὐτῶν δῆθεν γυναιξὶ μὴ πλησιάζοντες ταῖς ἰδίαις αὐτῶν χερσὶν ἑαυτοὺς φθείρουσι, τὴν δὲ ἑαυτῶν φθορὰν λαμβάνουσιν 1.289 εἰς τὰς χεῖρας καὶ οὕτως ἐσθίουσι, χρώμενοι σεσυκοφαντημένῃ μαρ1.289 τυρίᾳ, τῷ «αἱ χεῖρες αὗται ἐπήρκεσαν οὐ μόνον ἐμοί, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς σὺν ἐμοί», καὶ πάλιν τῷ «ἐργαζόμενοι ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσίν, ἵνα δυνηθῆτε καὶ τοῖς μὴ ἔχουσι μεταδοῦναι»· ὡς καὶ περὶ τούτων οἶμαι ἐκινήθη τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἐν τῷ ἀποστόλῳ Ἰούδᾳ, λέγω δὴ ἐν τῇ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γραφείσῃ καθολικῇ ἐπιστολῇ Ἰούδας δέ ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ ἀδελφὸς Ἰακώβου καὶ τοῦ κυρίου λεγόμενος· ὑπέδειξε γὰρ αὐτοὺς τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα διὰ τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ Ἰούδα κατὰ τὰ κτήνη φθειρομένους καὶ φθείροντας, ὡς λέγει ὅτι «ὅσα μὲν οὐκ οἴδασιν, ἀγνοοῦντες ἁλίσκονται, ὅσα δὲ οἴδασιν, ὡς τὰ ἄλογα ζῷα φθείρονται». κυνῶν γὰρ δίκην καὶ χοίρων τὴν ἀπ' αὐτῶν φθορὰν ἐπιτελοῦσιν· οἱ κύνες γὰρ καὶ οἱ χοῖροι, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλα ζῷα οὕτως φθείρονται καὶ τὴν ἀπόρρυσιν τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν σωμάτων αὐτῶν ἐσθίουσι. καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἀληθῶς «ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι σάρκα μὲν μιαίνουσι, κυριότητα δὲ ἀθετοῦσι, δόξας δὲ βλασφημοῦσι. Μιχαὴλ δὲ ὁ ἀρχάγγελος διαλεγόμενος τῷ διαβόλῳ περὶ τοῦ Μωυσέως σώματος οὐκ ἤνεγκε λόγον βλασφημίας, ἀλλὰ εἶπεν, ἐπιτιμήσαι σοι κύριος. οὗτοι δὲ ὅσα οὐκ οἴδασι φυσικῶς βλασφημοῦσιν», ὅτι τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων τὰ μετὰ ἁγιασμοῦ ἡμῖν παραδοθέντα βλασφημοῦσιν, εἰς αἰσχρότητα αὐτὰ μεταβαλλόμενοι. καὶ ταῦτά ἐστιν ἅτινα κατὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἐτόλμησαν λέγειν, ὡς καὶ ὁ μακάριος Παῦλός φησιν «ὥστε τινὰς τολμᾶν βλασφημοῦντας ἡμᾶς λέγειν ὅτι ποιήσωμεν τὰ κακά, ἵνα ἔλθῃ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς τὰ ἀγαθά, ὧν τὸ κρίμα ἔνδικόν ἐστι». πόσας δὲ ἄλλας ἀγάγοιμι μαρτυρίας κατὰ τῶν βλασφήμων; οὗτοι γὰρ οἱ ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶ φθειρόμενοι, οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ταῖς γυναιξὶ πλησιάζοντες, λοιπὸν κόρον μὴ λαβόντες τῆς μετὰ τῶν γυναικῶν πολυμιξίας εἰς ἀλλήλους ἐκκαίονται, ἄνδρες ἐν ἀνδράσι, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον «τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν τῆς πλάνης ἐν 1.290 ἑαυτοῖς ἀπολαμβάνοντες». ἐξώλεις γὰρ οὗτοι γενόμενοι μακαρίζουσιν ἀλλήλους, ὡς τὸ προκριτέον τάγμα ἀναδεξάμενοι. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπατῶντες τὸ αὐτοῖς πειθόμενον γυναικεῖον γένος, «τὸ σωρευόμενον ἁμαρτήμασι καὶ ἀγόμενον ἐπιθυμίαις ποικίλαις», φάσκουσι ταῖς ἠπατημέναις παρ' αὐτῶν ὅτι ἡ δεῖνα παρθένος, ἡ τοσαῦτα ἔτη πεφθαρμένη καὶ φθειρομένη καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν. κόρον γὰρ οὐκ ἔχει παρ' αὐτοῖς ἡ λαγνεία, ἀλλὰ ὅσον τις παρ' αὐτοῖς αἰσχρουργὸς ἄνθρωπος, τοσοῦτον παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐπαινετός. ἐκείνας δέ φασιν παρθένους εἶναι, τὰς μηδέποτε ἐν κοσμικῇ μίξει γάμου κατὰ φύσιν τῆς συνηθείας γενομένας ἕως καταβολῆς σπέρματος, ἀλλὰ μιγνυμένας μὲν ἀεὶ καὶ πορνευούσας, πρὸ δὲ τοῦ ἀπαρτηθῆναι τὴν ἡδονὴν ἀφιστώσας τὸν πονηροποιὸν αὐτῶν τῆς κοινωνίας φθορέα καὶ λαμβανούσας τὴν προειρημένην αἰσχρότητα εἰς ἐδωδήν, ὡς κατὰ τὸ ὅμοιον τῆς τοῦ Σηλὼμ πρὸς τὴν Θάμαρ κακοτροπίας, * ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ παρθενίας τὴν τέχνην ταύτην ἐπανῃρημένας τοῦ φθείρεσθαι μέν, μὴ ὑποδέχεσθαι δὲ τῆς φθορᾶς τὴν μῖξιν καὶ τὴν ἀπόρροιαν. βλασφημοῦσι δὲ οὐ μόνον τὸν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τὸν Μωυσέα καὶ τὸν Ἠλίαν καὶ πάντα τὸν χορὸν τῶν προφητῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν θεὸν τὸν ἐκλεξάμενον αὐτούς. 12. Ἄλλα δὲ μυρία παρ' αὐτοῖς πλασθέντα γραφεῖα τετόλμηται. γένναν μὲν γὰρ Μαρίας βιβλίον τί φασιν εἶναι, ἐν ᾧ δεινά τε καὶ 1.291 ὀλέθρια ὑποβάλλοντές τινα ἐκεῖσε λέγουσιν. ἐκ τούτου γάρ φησι τὸν Ζαχαρίαν ἀπεκτάνθαι ἐν τῷ ναῷ, ἐπειδή, φησίν, ὀπτασίαν ἑώρακε, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου θέλων εἰπεῖν τὴν ὀπτασίαν ἀπεφράγη τὸ στόμα. εἶδε γάρ, φησίν, ἐν τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ θυμιάματός τινα, ὡς ἐθυμία, ἄνθρωπον ἑστῶτα,